What a special post we have today! It’s a Cover Reveal…and you all know how much I love those! It’s our first look at someone’s new book baby…made even more delightful because co-authors Helen Kampion and Reneé Lyons stopped by to share a bit about themselves and the story behind the story.

But first…here’s a first peek at the awesome cover – and take note of the shiny Junior Library Guild seal…congratulations to the whole team that created this beautiful book!

What a beautiful cover!!!

You know, in 1964, I was starting my sophomore year of college…many of us were still reeling from the assassination of John F. Kennedy…and the country was experiencing the first draft card burning to protest our involvement in the Vietnam War, the Beatles had arrived, and President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act.

And here’s a little bit about the co-authors:

Helen Kampion finally pursued her dream of writing for children after a career in high-tech sales. With an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College, she began writing poetry, picture books, and middle-grade novels. Helen’s interest in history and strong women led her to co-author a picture about Lady Bird Johnson’s courage and grit. She lives in Wayland, Massachusetts.

Reneé Lyons’ mother always said would be a writer; as a youth, she wrote on everything—the coffee table, the walls, even the lamp shades! Reneé took this prediction to heart. Now, as a creative writer (with an MFA from Vermont College) and a professor of librarianship/children’s literature at East Tennessee State University, Reneé finds that little-known points of history inspire her creative bent, as does traversing the Blue Ridge hills of North Carolina, her family home for more than 250 years. She lives in Boone, North Carolina.

And here’s a little bit about the illustrator:
Erin McGuire is an illustrator of many books for children, including several other picture book biographies of powerful women: Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee by Bethany Hegedus (HarperCollins), and her author/illustrator debut biography of Rose Valland, The Spy in the Museum (Simon and Schuster). For the past ten years she’s been the cover artist for the Nancy Drew Diaries book series and has taught and lectured internationally. Erin lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and son.

And lucky us…we get to see the flap copy for Rollin’ on Down the Line; Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 Whistle-Stop Tour for Civil Rights
The year 1964 was a turbulent time in America. After years of racial struggle, in July of that
year, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. This law, declaring that all citizens were equal, outlawed racial segregation. Many Americans cheered this legislation, yet some did not. Many Southerners despised it and worried about what it meant for their traditions and way of life. With the upcoming November presidential election, President Johnson was advised not to campaign in the South due to the threats of violence since the signing of the new law.
But someone needed to visit the citizens in the South and explain why the new law was
necessary and good for the entire country. Born in Texas, First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson was from the South and understood its people and customs. Despite her fear of public speaking and threats to her own safety, Lady Bird undertook a train tour to reach out to her fellow citizens and Southerners. This is the true story of her historic Whistle-Stop Tour, making almost fifty stops through eight Southern States in four days.

Points of interest:
-July 1, 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act
-2024 is a campaign year
-Lady Bird’s campaign trip was the first time a First Lady had ever campaigned without her husband.

And now we’ll hear from Helen and Renee who were kind enough to stop by and share a bit about the path to publication for this book.
ME: Welcome, Helen and Renee. Thank you so much for making time to come by.
What inspired both of you to write this book?

Helen: Thank you so much, Vivian, for providing a platform for us to spread the word about the book. Renee is what I call a “history hoarder.” She loves history, reads it voraciously, and squirrels away little-known facts. When she came upon Lady Bird’s Whistle-Stop Tour, she knew someone had to tell the story. She told me about it, I researched Lady Bird’s tour, and immediately agreed. So, we both hopped on board the Lady Bird Special and after months of research, wrote the story of Lady Bird’s bravery, grit, and determination.

ME: What was difficult about writing the story?

Renee: Though kids love adventure, and a train trip certainly is a quintessential adventure, Lady Bird’s train story is also full of REAL danger – rumors of snipers and bomb threats! We needed to speak to such danger to show the extraordinary bravery exhibited by Lady Bird during the Whistle-Stop Tour. Our difficulty arose in writing about these threats, all the while making sure we focused primarily on Lady Bird’s character. We didn’t want to scare the reader in anyway, thus we had to write about the bomb threat using a “lighter” mood and tone. We worked on this part of the story longer and harder than any other!

This book looks like one I need to add to my collection. And friends, I hope you feel the same way. We can help new books become a success by
Buying them
Here are two Links to pre-order:
Silver Unicorn
https://www.silverunicornbooks.com/item/S1SjsBJkMZIca-CMZxWe0Q
Bookmarks https://www.bookmarksnc.org/search/site/Rollin%20on%20Down%20the%20Line

We can also review them
Add them to our Goodreads Want to Read Shelf
Tell friends about the book
Ask your local library to purchase copies for their collection

Thank you all for spending your precious moments with us.
Speaking of precious, I’m up to distributing prize #30…so we are moving right along. Thank you for your patience. And, thanks to the lovely Judie Offerdahl who created our awesome #50PreciousWords badges, I now have an updated flyer for the #50PreciousWordsforKids International Writing Challenge which happens during Children’s Book Week, May 6-10. If you know any kids (of any age up to age 18), please encourage them to write a story in 50 words or less – parents and/or teachers can email the stories to me (viviankirkfield@gmail.com). I’ll create a Heads-up post this week and share it on social media – what a wonderful way to encourage our young people to get in touch with their storyteller soul.
But right now, let’s share this post to spread the word about ROLLIN’ DOWN THE LINE!