Wiles raised her family in Urbana for 26 years; she moved to Atlanta, Ga., in 2004. Since then, Wiles said she has come back to Frederick County many times to speak at elementary schools in Frederick, Middletown and Urbana.
After nearly a decade of revisions and hard work, ‘‘Love Ruby Lavender,” a novel about a young, opinionated girl living with her grandmother in Mississippi, was published in 2001. Wiles followed with ‘‘Each Little Bird that Sings” and ‘‘Aurora County All Stars.”
‘‘Love Ruby Lavender” was an ALA Notable Children’s Book and has been nominated for 26 state book award reading lists, voted on by children. ‘‘Each Little Bird that Sings” was a 2005 National Book Award finalist.
Merri Jo Wright, media specialist at Urbana Elementary, surprised Wiles Tuesday with three of the author’s fans – Kailee Unangst, Brienna Kerr-Atkinson and Simmi Pastakia. Wright and the girls presented Wiles with a ‘‘Great Heron Wetlands” T-shirt from the school. Wiles said her children attended Urbana Elementary School.
The girls - all rising sixth-graders at Urbana Middle– said Wiles is one of their favorite authors.
Kailee has read ‘‘Love Ruby Lavender” twice and loves the contrast between Ruby and her grandmother.
Wright noted that Wiles’ books are filled with humor, realism and a sense of place. ‘‘Students can identify with the characters,” she said. ‘‘It’s very appropriate.”
Kathleen Goldstein of Frederick also waited on line to meet Wiles and said she came to listen to the author describe her writing process. Goldstein noted that she is working on her own children’s book called ‘‘Bunny Tales” and expects it to be published in 2010. She said Wiles’ advice about starting small echoed with her.
‘‘I’m learning that you need to zone in on one small aspect,” Goldstein said of the writing process. For Goldstein, the story of her daughter losing her favorite stuffed bunny provided inspiration.
Wiles’ childhood summers in the segregated South with her grandmother were also fodder for the picture book, ‘‘Freedom Summer.”
‘‘I get more mail about this book than any other I’ve written,” Wiles noted. Children often want her to ask what happens at the end of the book, to which she says every story’s ending is the beginning of another story.
