With Maryn Roos’ wonderful illustrations and fun chapter titles like “Begin the First Day of School with a Burp,” “Get Over It and Eat Ice Cream,” “Grow Very Big Ears,” “Don’t Even Think About a Plan D,” “Remember: One Push + One Shove = Trouble,” and “Take Bad Advice From Your Dumb Sister,” the six titles that I read in the Willimena series are great reads that focus on a protagonist who admires Harriet Tubman, has a loving family, and encounters humorous problems with her big sister Tina by her side. But Tina really did have good intentions. And sometimes Tina’s intervention makes the problem a little worse. In every book, Willie encounters a problem, usually tries to figure it out for herself, but inevitably big sister Tina steps in to help her out. Valerie Wilson Wesley has given me and today’s young readers a very comparable series as we follow third grader Willimena Thomas, affectionately called Willie, her big sister Tina, a host of neighbors, the family cat Doofus Doolittle, classmates, and her loving family members. I grew up reading Beverly Cleary’s books about Ramona, her older sister Beezus, the family cat Picky Picky, friend Howie, neighbor Henry Huggins, and his dog Ribsy. Reading six of the titles in the Willimena Rules series was such a pleasure for me. Sweetly who is rumored to be a mean teacher. Thanks to Valerie Wilson Wesley’s Willimena Rules’ series, I was able to go back to the third grade at Harriet Tubman Elementary School. Kaveney, recess, hundreds of games of kickball, our Black History Month program, the school spelling bee, the end of the year class picnic at Mrs.
You can visit Valerie's website at to find out more and to read her blog.I still remember the third grade where I was a student at John Dewey Elementary School – my teacher Mrs. Her two paranormal romances WHEN THE NIGHT WHISPERS and THE MOON TELLS SECRETS were written under her pen name Savanna Welles. Her work for children includes seven titles in her WILLIMENA RULES ! and the AFRO-BETS BOOK OF BLACK HEROES, which she co-wrote with Wade Hudson, as well as an essay in the critically acclaimed THE TALK: Conversations about Race, Love and Truth edited by Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson. She is also a recipient of the Literary Beacon Award from the Go-On Girls Book Club, a national book club. Her novels include PLAYING MY MOTHER'S BLUES, ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION, and AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS IF I DO for which she received an award for excellence in adult fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Her eight TAMARA HAYLE MYSTERIES, which include WHEN DEATH COMES STEALING and OF BLOOD AND SORROW, are also published in Germany, Great Britain and France.
Her latest mystery, A GLIMMER OF DEATH, her first cozy, will be published in 2021 by Kensington Books. Valerie Wilson Wesley writes mysteries, novels, children’s books and paranormal romances.
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