September 28, 2009
Legacy Publications
Shackles Wins 2009 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award
By Press Release
Greensboro, NC – Legacy Publications proudly announces Shackles, By Marjory Heath Wentworth, illustration by Leslie Darwin Pratt-Thomas, has won the Silver Medal in the national 2009 Moonbeam Children’s Book awards for multi-cultural children's books.
Based on a true story, Shackles describes what happens when a group of young boys search for buried treasure in their backyard on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, and dig up a bit of history – a set of shackles used centuries ago on slaves who were held on the island. Neighbor and friend Mr. Green is summoned – and tries to explain the painful hidden history of Sullivan’s Island.
One out of every three African Americans had ancestors who were brought to Sullivan’s Island and held or perished in the slave trade. This important story reminds us of a piece of American history that is too often forgotten or overlooked.
Praise for Shackles:
It's great material for use in schools as an early introduction to slavery in America because the narrative works much in the same way as good history: there's adventure, then a mystery, then discovery, disbelief, explanation, and at the end, the need to run out and tell someone.
— FOREWARD MAGAZINE
[T]his compelling picture book speaks in clear, lyrical prose, true to Hunter’s perspective, with beautiful oil paintings that show the white boys at play and then with their African American neighbor confronting the cruel history in their own backyard.
— Hazel Rochman, BOOKLIST
This is a story for children everywhere, but especially children in South Carolina.
— Fran Hawk, THE POST AND COURIER
About the author and illustrator:
Marjory Heath Wentworth is Poet Laureate of South Carolina and the author of two collections of poetry, Noticing Eden and Despite Gravity. She teaches poetry to cancer patients in “Expressions of Healing” at Roper Hospital in Charleston, SC. She lives in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina with her husband Peter and their three sons.
Leslie Darwin Pratt-Thomas has been painting in oils for more than fifteen years. The winner of numerous awards, she created a piece that appears on the cover of New York Times best-selling author Mary Alice Monroe’s book Swimming Lessons. Leslie and her husband Douglas are the parents of two sons, Jeff and Taylor, and reside in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
About the Publisher:
For over two decades, Legacy Publications has offered authoritative and exquisitely designed coffee-table books on Charleston and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Over the years, the Legacy collection has expanded to include children’s books, guide books, memoirs, and cookbooks – all wonderfully written and illustrated by popular Charleston area authors and artists. Legacy Publications is a subsidiary of Pace Communications, Inc., a custom content publisher.
www.legacypublications.com
About the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards:
Presented by Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher Online, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are designed to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. Awards cover the full range of subjects, styles and age groups that children’s books are written and published in today.
Shackles
By Marjory Heath Wentworth, Illustrations by Leslie Darwin Pratt-Thomas
Legacy Publications
Hardback, ISBN: 978-0-933101-06-7
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For more information about Legacy Publications, please visit our Web site or contact Kimberly Cote, Account Executive at Legacy Publications by phone at 336.383.5457 or by e-mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
To contact the author, Marjory Heath Wentworth, please e-mail her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).