Dearsha Johnson

Dearsha has inhabited the role of a creative writer and avid reader since childhood and now is a published author. As a tutor and previously an early childhood educator, she has shared her reading and writing talents with her students, colleagues and the community. When she doesn’t have a children’s book in her hand, she enjoys Christian fiction, romances, mysteries and any stories that paint a vivid picture in her mind’s eye.

For her, a strong character resonates beyond the last page.

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This has been one of my favorite stories since childhood. I have always been a fan of Cinderella stories and this one comes from Africa! It is a beautiful combination of illustration and prose with a lesson of kindness vs selfishness and the rewards you reap from both.

Renee Watson has quickly become one of my favorite Early Elementary/Middle Grade authors and her spunky Ryan Hart character will capture your heart like she did mine. Her name is Ryan and no it’s not a boy’s name, it’s HER name. Her comical, creative cooking skills, penchant for solving mysteries, competitiveness and all-around good heart will keep you laughing and cheering from chapter to chapter. Highly recommended for Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby fans.

What if you possessed the power to read yourself into your favorite book or to read your favorite characters out? What conversation would you have? Bookwandering is the ability to wander between the pages of your favorite prose and it takes our heroine, Tilly Pages, one accidental encounter with a certain redhead from Green Gables to learn she has the gift. Of course, having such a gift requires secrecy and rules or else things just might get out of hand. This is a fun and adventurous read.

So many of us read “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” and loved meeting Jamie Ford when he visited for our Book Festival. This new novel made me think of all of the women before me as the novel begins with Afong Moy and continues through the women of the later generations. This is a moving novel that will make you think of karma, family dramas that continue through the years, and how we each find our way through life.