Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth

(Snowdrops jacket illustration copyright 1998 by Vivienne Flesher)

Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth, a novel for readers ages eight to twelve, was published by Simon and Schuster in spring, 1998.

When I was growing up, I always hated it when somebody told me the story of a book before I'd had a chance to read it for myself. So I'll only tell you a little bit about Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth here: Josie Rush's younger brother Johnny was killed in an accident and her younger sister Susie, Johnny's twin, has stopped talking. Josie's very sad about Johnny, but she's also very worried about Susie. More than anything in the world, she wants Susie to talk again.

The book is about Josie and Susie and their eighty-two-year-old Cousin Ruth, who likes to dance and who owns a plaster dog named Harold. There's also a bully named Bonnie Lou Stump and a secret group called the Giddygrass Club and a puppy without a name. Josie wants Cousin Ruth to help her find a way to make Susie talk again....and I hope you'll read the book to find out what happens then. (To find out what reviewers have said about the book, click here).

Readers often ask a writer whether a book is "true." Probably anyone who has spent the time and energy to write a book hopes that the book is "true" in the deepest sense. What Josie and Cousin Ruth believe about life and love is what I believe to be true. But the story is made up.

Little pieces of the book, though, are based on my own experience. I loved carousels as much as Johnny did, and I still own a carousel, made from an old gramophone, just like the one Cousin Ruth gives to Susie in the book. And I once belonged to a Giddygrass Club, though we never experienced a disaster like the one that happens to Bonnie Lou and Teresa in the book. Luckily I didn't even know two girls as mean as Teresa and Bonnie Lou.

I did know several wonderful old ladies, however, and one of them I used to call Cousin Ruth, though she wasn't my cousin. It is in her honor that I named my character. None of those old ladies has been alive in the world for a long time, but they are all alive in my heart. And so I wanted to put something of their spirit into a book, where they could be alive for readers too.

If you've already read Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth, I would like to know what you think of it. Please leave a note in my mailbox.

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