Awards & Honors:
*2003 Chautauqua South Fiction Award
*2003 San Diego Magazine's Book Award for Fiction
*2002 Deadly Pleasures' Best U.S. First Novel
ONE BOOK, ONE COMMUNITY READS:
•Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 2009 Freshman Year Read
•Montcalm County, MI 2008 One Book, One County Read
•Michigan State University 2007 Freshmen Year Read
•City of East Lansing, MI 2007 One Book, One Community Read
•St. Augustine-St. Johns County Libraries, FL 2007 One Book, One County Read
•Tampa-Hillsborough County Libraries, FL 2005 One Book, One County Read
ALL-SCHOOL or ALL-CLASS COMMON READS:
•Providence School, Jacksonville, FL All-Class Read 2009
•Oveido High School, Oviedo, FL All-Class Read 2009
•The Pingry School, Martinsville, NJ Annual All-Class Read since 2008
•High Meadow School, Stone Ridge, NY Upper School All-Class Read 2008
•Fairview High School, Fairview, PA Annual All-Class Read since 2008
•Lake Highland Preparatory School, Orlando, FL All-School Read 2008
•Paul J. Hagerty High School, Oviedo, FL Annual All-Class Read since 2008
•South Broward High School, Hollywood, FL All-Class Read 2008
•Jones High School, Orlando, FL All-Class Read 2008
•Liberty School, Madison, AL All-Class Read 2008
•Rock Ledge High School, Rock Ledge, MI All-School Read 2007
•Trinity Preparatory High School, Winter Park, FL Annual All-Class Read since 2007
•Lake Mary High School, Lake Mary, FL Annual All-Class Read since 2006
•Winter Springs High School, Winter Springs, FL Annual All-Class Read since 2006
•Colonial High School, Orlando, FL Annual All-Class Read since 2007
•Terrace Community School, Temple Terrace, FL All-School Read 2006
•Academy at the Lakes, Land O' Lakes, FL All-School Read 2006
OTHER READS/RECOMMENDS:
•The High Schools of the State of South Carolina, Annual Core Curriculum Read since 2007
•The High Schools of Manatee County, FL Annual Core Curriculum Read since 2008
•The High Schools of Escambia County, FL Annual Core Literacy Read since 2008
•FLORIDA TEEN BOOK MAP PROJECT, Florida Reading Association
•TOP 40 YA TITLES, Pennsylvania School Librarians Association
•HOT PICKS! District-wide Summer Reading list for the High Schools of Broward County, FL
•2009 SUMMER READING LISTS: Huntington High School, Huntington, NY; Princeton High School, Cincinnati, OH; East Hartford High School, East Hartford, CT; Appoquinimink High School, Middletown, DE; Middletown High School, Middletown, DE; Edgewater High School, Orlando, FL; Gainesville High School, Gainesville, FL; Northeast High School, Oakland Park, FL; St. Augustine High School, St. Augustine, FL; West Orange High School, Winter Garden, FL
•CLASSROOM READS: Tolland High School, Tolland, CT English Honors Read 2008; Timber Creek High School, Orlando, FL AP Read 2008; Pinellas Park High School, Largo, FL Annual Honors Read since 2007; Lawton Chiles High School, Tallahassee, FL Annual AP Read since 2007; Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach, FL Annual Honors Read since 2007
Addresses:
*2009 Michigan State Reading Conference
*2007 California Reading Association
*2006 Florida Library Association keynote
*2005 Florida Council of Teachers of English
*2004 Florida Council of Language Arts Supervisors
Notable Items:
*Core text in State of South Carolina's English II "With Justice for All" curriculum, developed by renowned literacy consultant Dr. Janet Allen.
To listen to Michigan State University’s One Book, One Community program interview with both the author and Evangeline Moore, the 77-year-old daughter of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore whose murders by the KKK figure prominently in Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands, please visit http://spartanpodcast.com/?p=303.
Inspired by real events, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands is a novel that tackles race politics in the pre-Civil Rights South unlike any other book in recent memory.
A wise and luminous story about a northern family, a southern town, and the senseless murder that sparks an extraordinary act of courage, the book is told from the point of view of a little girl who is witness to the extraordinary turn of events that begins with the lynching of a black man. From the arrival of noteworthy figures such as Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP, and Mr. Hoover's FBI, to the expressed opinions and actions of the everyday town citizen, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands will give students a solid sense of the events, people, and national mood of this volatile and chaotic period in American history.
"Reminiscent of To Kill A Mockingbird, McCarthy's debut novel is an engrossing story of one girl's coming of age during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement" —Library Journal
“[E]vocative ... Reesa is an engaging narrator, obsessed with the murder of her friend Marvin, slowly becoming aware of the virulent hatred and bigotry that coexists with their neighbors' generosity, good manners and Baptist spiritual fervor.”—Publishers Weekly
Click here for Susan McCarthy's site
Susan Carol McCarthy was born and raised in the rolling grovelands of pre-Disney central Florida. The daughter of independent citrus growers, she recalls "picking fruit, packing bushel baskets and pouring fresh-squeezed orange juice for the tourists who stopped by my family's packing house" on Florida's heavily-traveled Route 441.
A graduate of University of South Florida (BA in English Literature), McCarthy wrote advertising for newly-opened Walt Disney World in Orlando. Later on, after successful stints at larger ad agencies in Atlanta and San Francisco, she settled in San Diego as a full-time freelancer.
In 1991, McCarthy received a package that changed her life: Inside a rather large envelope, the front page news article from the Orlando Sentinel detailed a series of shocking race crimes that occurred in Florida in 1951-1952. (Records of an FBI investigation, a Grand Jury hearing, and KKK indictments had been sealed for 40 years.) Underneath the clipping was a startling eight-page letter from her father. "Everybody in town knew the local Klan was involved," he wrote, "but nobody was willing to do anything about it. I want you to hear, from the horse's mouth, what I did and why."
McCarthy's father's account of his daring cooperation with the FBI became the basis for her award-winning debut novel, Lay That Trumpet In Our Hands.
Her second novel, True Fires, published January 2004, is also inspired by true events, circa 1954. Kirkus Reviews called the book "a vivid portrait of mid-century corruption and of some brave enough to risk everything for justice."
McCarthy says, "I'm drawn to the stories of ordinary people who, when backed into a moral corner, choose, often at great risk, to do the right thing. Where do they get such extraordinary courage? How do they achieve that level of grace?"
