| Coastal
Carolina Press Books |
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| Pale as the Moon unfolds in the 16th century on one of the small, sandy Outer Banks islands off the North Carolina coast. This is the tale of the enduring friendship between a young Indian girl, Gray Squirrel, and a wild Outer Banks pony. Told primarily from the viewpoint of this visionary young girl, the book examines the tenuous relationship between the native Indians and the English colonists who settle on Roanoke Island. Through both mystical and practical means, Gray Squirrel and her pony manage to prevent war from breaking out, and help the colonists to survive. In the process, she befriends a young English boy, thus educating young readers about the value of cross-cultural friendship. The story of these achievements is powerful, filled with adventures and distinguished by bravery. Original and imaginative, Pale As the Moon offers an alternative understanding of what might have happened to the Lost Colony of the Outer Banks. From the Publisher Pale as the Moon, published by Coastal Carolina Press, is a publication of the Carolina Young People series. | ||
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| *Sweet Beulah Land* reflects Harris' persistent interest in the people of Eastern North Carolina and the kinds of lives they carved out for themselves. The novel begins in 1931 when a handsome drifter wanders into Beulah Ridge, a tiny and largely self-contained community near the mouth of the Roanoke River. Harris peoples her fictitious community with an array of well-realized characters representing the range of people in her part of the world--sharecroppers, small farmers, landowners, and a new-style capitalist farmer. She tracks these individuals through seasonal change, personal change, social change and, finally, natural catastrophe. Norms of class and status, while still potent, are beginning to break down. To the distress of other members of her class, the patrician, Alicia Donning, is drawn to the drifter. Alicia is one of the strong women that Harris clearly admired, a competent and independent individual in a society in which those virtues were thought to be largely male prerogatives. Old Miss Partheny, too, is a central character, memorable for her courage, resourcefulness, and feisty language. The author, a keen observer, has an extraordinary ear for dialogue, and her characters, black and white, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, good and bad, are presented in a warm and basically sympathetic way. "They are my creatures," she wrote of the characters in her novels. "Through these people I have confirmed something of the complexity of life, the dignity of man, the triumph of the human spirit." | ||
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| When ships were in trouble off the treacherous coast of North Carolinas
Outer Banks, the courageous black lifesavers at Pea Island Station were first
on the scene and in the water. Through raging storms, pitch-black nights, and
hurricanes, these surfmen performed amazing, death-defying rescues. For over
seven decades, the intrepid crews battled fierce waves and racial prejudice.
Ultimately, they received the recognition they richly deservedin 1996, more
than a century after they broke the color barrier. Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks is the story of their heroism, their struggle, and their triumph. With dozens of historic prints and photographs, this documentary history is the first book about the U.S. Lifesaving Services only all-black crew. Spanning slavery times, the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, Sink or Swim recalls this little-known chapter in American and North Carolinian history. Mixing adventure and social discord, the informative, action-packed narrative will enhance young readers understanding of coastal conditions and how slavery and other racial barriers affected African Americans lives. Readers witness violent storms, courageous rescues, tragic losses, and the lifesavers ultimate victory over prejudice. Their story is both powerful and empowering; in fact, it was said that Alex Haleys next project, had he lived, would have been to tell the Pea Island surfmens tale. Intended for young people between the ages of nine and fourteen, Sink or Swim will be a valuable inspiration for children seeking positive black role models, as the Pea Island lifesavers shouldered great responsibility at a time when few African Americans held positions of authority. Mixing adventure and social discord, this informative, action-packed narrative will enhance young readers understanding of coastal conditions and how slavery and other racial barriers affected African Americans lives. |
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© 1999 NCNatural
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