The Lions of Little Rock (28 page)

 

Suggested Books for Learning More:

Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High
by Melba Pattillo Beals

A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
by Carlotta Walls LaNier

The Power of One: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine
by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin

Finding the Lost Year: What Happened When Little Rock Closed Its Public Schools
by Sondra Gordy

Breaking the Silence: Little Rock's Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools, 1958–1963
by Sara Alderman Murphy

The Embattled Ladies of Little Rock, 1958–1963: The Struggle to Save Public Education at Central High
by Vivion Lenon Brewer

Suggested Films:

The Lost Year: The Untold Story of the Year Following the Crisis at Central High School
by Sandra Hubbard

The Giants Wore White Gloves: The Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools
by Sandra Hubbard

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are so many people I want to thank for helping me make
The Lions of Little Rock
a reality. First of all is my amazing editor, Stacey Barney. With her infinite patience and insightful questions, she always helped me see how my book could be
more
than what it was. Thank you also to my agent, Kathy Green, for all her support and encouragement, and for making the business side of writing so easy.

My deepest appreciation goes out to everyone who talked with me about the late 1950s in Little Rock, both in person (LaVerne Bell-Tolliver, Katherine Downie, Cynthia East, Helen Harrison, Harry Otis Sims Jr., Judy Reed, and Marlene Walker) and via e-mail (Sondra Gordy, Sandy Hubbard, Martha Cornish, Irving Spitzberg, Chris Barrier, Susan Baker, Susan Altrui and Bobbie Forbush).

In addition, I want to express my gratitude to all the people who read different versions of this story, including Matt McNevin, Jessie Auten, Debbie Gaydos, Cynthia East, Pam Ehrenberg, Gwen Glazer, Kirsten Green, Brooke Kenny, Elizabeth McBride, Meredith Tseu and Farrar Williams.

With two small children, I couldn't have gotten this book done without babysitting help: thanks to Roseann Mauroni, Jessie Auten and Debbie Gaydos for volunteering to hang out with my kids. I'm also most grateful to the librarians at John Marshall Library for always making me feel like a star when I walked in, and Candy and Wil Briffa and their fantastic staff at Grounded Coffee for making their coffee shop such a pleasant place to work.

An extra special thank-you to my family—to my mother, Marlene Walker, for countless hours of babysitting; to my father, Tom Walker, and my sister, Erika Knott, who jumped in for extra babysitting whenever I had a deadline; and to my husband, Adam Levine, for keeping the household running when I was busy writing. Nothing says
I love you
like a clean house and dinner on the table. In addition, I'm most grateful to my mom and husband for being my emergency readers, who were always willing to read pages and give me comments, even if it was eleven o'clock at night.

And finally, thank you to my girls for their enormous patience when Mommy had to go work on her book yet again.

 

By the Author of

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had