Carroll moved to the mountains of north Georgia from southwest Georgia, near Columbus. She and I have much in common besides the proximity of where we grew up. I relate to the title of her first book, Chinaberry Summer. The little girl in this book, Sissie, likes to climb up in a chinaberry tree as I did when I was a kid. The birds light near her and pay no attention to her.
I had that experience in my chinaberry tree which grew in my back yard. I remember so well the exhilaration of having a bird sit within reach and sing his song. I believed he sang just to me. Of course I didn't move a muscle, hardly took a breath, because I didn't want to scare the bird. I can still feel the wind blowing my hair. I can see the vast space of green pastures and pine trees in the distance. I had my spiral notebook with me and I wrote stories and poems while up there with the birds.
The second book in Carroll's series is Chinaberry Summer: The Other Side. It takes place in 1960 when the two main characters are in sixth grade. On Carroll's website you can read her About page to learn about her background. I recommend reading the Journal pages, where you will find more about her thoughts and ideas, learn about her obsession for creepy crawly things and why she cannot understand why human beings want to kill them.
Carroll says, "Sometimes my inspiration comes to me on two, four, six, or eight legs. With my mind still in the teaching world, I can't pass up a chance to blend the best of two passions -- reading and learning about nature. I want my readers to enjoy the adventures of my characters, Sissie Stevenson and Spud McKenna, in rural Georgia and appreciate their love for reptiles, amphibians, and spiders."
See her website here.
Purchase her books https://tinyurl.com/yd4r7f9g
