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Jean Alicia Elster awarded a 2017 Kresge Artist Fellowship in Literary Arts! click here
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Jean Alicia Elster: Formerly an attorney, and honored with a 2017 Kresge Artist Fellowship in Literary Arts by Kresge Arts in Detroit (a program of The Kresge Foundation), Elster is the author of the novel The Colored Car—for ages 8 and older—published by Wayne State University Press and released in September 2013. The Colored Car was selected as a 2014 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. Elster was awarded the 2014 Midwest Book Award in Children’s Fiction for The Colored Car by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association. The Colored Car was chosen as an Honor Book for the 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. Elster is, also, the author of the novel Who’s Jim Hines?—for ages 8 and older—published by Wayne State University Press. Released in August 2008, it is in its second printing. Who’s Jim Hines? was selected as one of the Library of Michigan’s 2009 Michigan Notable Books. In addition, the Michigan Reading Association placed Who’s Jim Hines? on the Great Lakes Great Books Award 2009-2010 ballot for grades 4-5. Who’s Jim Hines? was also a ForeWord Magazine 2008 Book of the Year Finalist in the category of Juvenile Fiction.
In addition, Elster is the author of the children’s book series Joe Joe in the City, published by Judson Press. The first volume in that series, Just Call Me Joe Joe, was released in October 2001 and is in its second printing. The remaining volumes are: I Have a Dream, Too! (May 2002), I’ll Fly My Own Plane (September 2002) and I’ll Do the Right Thing (January 2003), also in its second printing. She was awarded the 2002 Governors’ Emerging artist award by ArtServe Michigan in recognition of the series. I’ll Do the Right Thing was awarded the 2004 Atlanta Daily World Atlanta Choice award in the category of children’s books.
Elster is frequently invited to speak at schools, libraries, and conferences throughout the state of Michigan and across the United States. Engagements include the following events: In 2016, she was a presenter for the 60th Annual Conference of the Michigan Reading Association in Detroit, Michigan and the guest speaker for the Ann Arbor (Michigan) District Library’s “Write On!” Story Contest Awards. In 2015, she was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Association of Michigan Independent Schools (AIMS) Affinity Workshop in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. In 2014, she was a guest speaker for the Vander Veen Center for the Book Program Series at the Grand Rapids Public Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2012, she was selected as the inaugural visiting author for The Lori Lutz Visiting Artist Series at The Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
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Award-Winning Book - Available NOW!
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In The Colored Car, Jean Alicia Elster, author of the award-winning Who’s Jim Hines?, follows another member of the Ford family coming of age in Depression-era Detroit. In the hot summer of 1937, twelve-year-old Patsy takes care of her three younger sisters and helps her mother put up fresh fruits and vegetables in the family’s summer kitchen, adjacent to the wood yard that her father, Douglas Ford, owns. Times are tough, and Patsy’s mother, May Ford, helps neighborhood families by sharing the food that she preserves. But May’s decision to take a break from canning to take her daughters for a visit to their grandmother’s home in Clarksville, Tennessee, sets in motion a series of events that prove to be life-changing for Patsy.
After boarding the first-class train car at Michigan Central Station in Detroit and riding comfortably to Cincinnati, Patsy is shocked when her family is led from their seats to change cars. In the dirty, cramped “colored car,” Patsy finds that the life she has known in Detroit is very different from life down south, and she can hardly get the experience out of her mind when she returns home—like the soot stain on her finely made dress or the smear on the quilt squares her grandmother taught her to sew. As summer wears on, Patsy must find a way to understand her experience in the colored car and also deal with the more subtle injustices that her family faces in Detroit. By the end of the story, Patsy will never see things the same way that she did before.
"An emotional and compelling look at how the joys of daily life and the legacy of slavery affected children of the 1930s. We are in Patsy’s kitchen when she helps with daily chores in the 1930s, we’re in her train car to witness her horror and indignation at segregation, and we are in her heart when she works at letting go of the anger."
Ruth McNally Barshaw, author and illustrator of The Ellie McDoodle Diaries
Award-Winning The Colored Car
2014 Michigan Notable Book, awarded by the Library of Michigan click here
Winner, 2014 Midwest Book Award in Children's Fiction, Midwest Independent Publishers Association click here
Honor Book - 2014 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People click here
Contact Jean Alicia Elster to schedule a virtual author visit via Skype or FaceTime for your school, library or reading group. click here
See Skype Interview with Dr. Nichelle Boyd-Robinson's
social studies methods class at the University of Mississippi click here
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Saturday, Nov 11, 10am - noon
Jean Alicia Elster presents at
The Jobs Club
Unity of Royal Oak
2500 Crooks Road
Royal Oak, Michigan 48073
Jean Alicia Elster will join two other guest speakers at the November 11 session of The Jobs Club. After her presentation— “Journaling to a Better You”—she will be available to chat with attendees and autograph copies of Who’s Jim Hines? and The Colored Car. For more information see Twitter click here
Facebook click here
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Award-Winning Book
Available NOW!
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"An emotional and compelling look at how the joys of daily life and the legacy of slavery affected children of the 1930s."
Ruth McNally Barshaw, author and illustrator of The Ellie McDoodle Diaries
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Award-Winning Book
Available NOW!
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Who’s Jim Hines? is a coming of age story about a twelve year old African American boy—Douglas Ford, Jr.—as he comes to terms with the racial realities of Detroit, Michigan in 1935. | read more |
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"Joe Joe in the City" Series
Watch this video from the publisher click here
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