Ma Dear's Aprons by Patricia C. McKissack

Regularly using the stories of her own family's history in the United States as inspiration, McKissack's works seek to invigorate the underrepresented canon of African- American literature for young readers, particularly through her biographical accounts of great persons of African descent. The author of historical fiction and biographies for children, McKissack focuses on religious as well as African-American themes. McKissack has written over one hundred titles under her own name, as well as in collaboration with her husband, Fredrick L. For further information on her life and career, see CLR, Volumes 23 and 55. The following entry presents an overview of McKissack's career through 2007. McKissack, told her publisher, Random House, that she wrote “because there’s a clear need for books written about the minority experience in America”.Īre you the author profiled here? Email us your official website or Let us host your primary web presence.(Full name Patricia Carwell McKissack has also written under the pseudonym L'Ann Carwell) American author of juvenile biographies, juvenile fiction, juvenile nonfiction, juvenile short stories, and picture books. She then became a junior high-school English teacher but in 1971 realized that she wanted to be an author. After traveling to Missouri, Patricia attended Webster University and graduated with an M.A. While attending Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University, now known as the Tennessee State University, Patricia met up with a childhood friend, Fredrick McKissack, who would later become her husband.

Patricia and her siblings grew up in the south and they all remember the poetry her mother told by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The characters in these stories were always smart and brave, characteristics present in Patricia’s later works. Her father’s stories usually included the names of her and siblings Nolan and Sarah. She was inspired to be a writer by her mother who always read her poetry and also by her grandparents who told her many stories.

Patricia L’Ann Carwell was born to civil servant parents Robert and Erma Carwell in Smyrna, Tennessee. Patricia L’Ann Carwell McKissack (Aug– April 7, 2017) was a children’s author who chronicled African American history and Southern folklore in more than 100 early reader and picture books. Mckissack is a 4-Time Bestselling Author

Ma Dear's Aprons by Patricia C. McKissack