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Elizabeth C. Bunce, Barbara Stuber and Laura Manivong signed books at Emporia’s Town Crier Bookstore on Thursday evening.
These authors write for young adults and are all three from the Kansas City area.
Elizabeth C. Bunce wrote “Star Crossed” and “A Curse Dark as Gold.” “My work is inspired by real cultures of the past, but it has varying degrees of other-worldly or fantastic elements,” Bunce said, explaining to me historical fantasy.
Barbara Stuber, who wrote “Crossing The Tracks,” which like the other books here, is for young adult readers told me that she just gave a talk to a retirement home book club. All the members, in their 80s and 90s, read the book and discussed it with her. So, apparently the book is not just for youngsters. Stuber thought the older readers related well to the older characters in the book who helped out Iris, the young girl who had no home. The book is set in 1916.
Laura Manivong,who wrote “Escaping the Tiger,” was able to give a compelling line to describe her book, “Caught in the crossroads of history, can a boy keep his hope and his sister alive?”
The opportunity to connect with budding writers at our middle school visits, the hospitality from the Town Crier staff, and the chat time with Cheryl serves to further reinforce what intersting folks the readers (and writers) in Kansas are!