cover Local Author Finds
LITERARY SUCCESS Leslie C. Youngblood of Rochester just had her second book published. It was selected by the Chicago Public Library ‘as one of the very best fiction books published for kids in 2021.’ She is now working on a new book By John Addyman
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55 PLUS – JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022
‘THAT WAS THE VOICE’ That little conversation is a central gift that keeps on giving in Rochester writer Leslie C. Youngblood’s first hit book, “Love Like Sky,” published by Disney Hyperion in 2018. And the love written on every page of that book, aimed at middle school kids and their parents, has opened up the sky for Youngblood, who is launching her career, which has been a long time coming, at the age of 55. To hit the “launch” button on that shiny new career, Youngblood and Little, Brown Young Readers released her second novel, “Forever This Summer,” in July. “That book is still so new,” she said in November. “It’s like a 4-month-old baby.” Another book is coming, part of the deal with Little, Brown. Youngblood, leaning heavily on southern family traditions, introduces Georgie in “Love Like Sky” as an important character. She first heard the voice of Georgie after the unspeakable tragedy of her brother’s murder in a robbery. “When I was grieving for my brother, I was open to this little voice that just kept coming to me,” Youngblood said. “Georgie is one character in “Love Like Sky,” but I had never thought of making her a primary character. It was like that moment when a kid runs up and says, ‘Coach put me in, I can do it!’” “That was the voice. She came to me and said I should write it in this book. That’s how that came about. Most people don’t trust that voice, but I
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ow do you measure the expanse of love? For Georgie, an 11-year-old girl in Bogalusa, Louisiana, the answer took some time in coming. She was fielding a question from her 8-year-old sister, Peaches. They’re in their shared bedroom, thinking about their new father. Peaches wonders if her old dad, her biological father who has divorced their mom and has now remarried, still loves her. “What if he runs out of love?” Peaches asks. She is concerned that all his love will be devoted to his new family. “Love don’t run out like that,” Georgie answers. Peaches had asked the question before and now Georgie had an answer. She tells Peaches that love doesn’t run out, like gasoline in a car. No, love is like sky. “If you keep driving and driving, gas will run out, right?” Georgie asks Peaches. “That’s why we gotta go to the gas station,” Peaches responds, jumping from her bed to Georgie’s. “Yep,” said Georgie. “But have you ever seen the sky run out? No matter how far we go? “No, when we look up, there it is.” George tells her that’s the kind of love their mom and original dad have for them. “Love like sky.” “It never ends?” asks Peaches. “Never.”
