about the book
Twelve-year-old Red Porter was named for his great-great-grandfather. Not the Red part; that’s because he has red hair. Then again, his great-great-grandfather also had red hair, so technically he got that from his ancestor, too. What Red is proud of is his name: Frederick Stewart Porter.
The Porters have owned the town’s gas station, auto repair shop, and convenience store for generations. Great-great-grandfather Porter built the shops and the nearby family home with his own hands, and the street is even called Porter’s Shop Road. Red is mighty proud of his family’s legacy, and he plans never to leave Rocky Gap, Virginia. Someday, he’ll take over the business.
His daddy, his idol, has already taught him lots. Red can change oil in a car faster than a hot knife through butter. But he won’t be learning anything new from his daddy. Two months ago, his father died from a heart attack. Since then his younger brother J has been running amok and his mother is a walking zombie. She decided to sell everything and move the boys and herself back to Ohio to be near her relatives. Ain’t no way Red can let that happen!
Suddenly, Red sees things in a different light. Life is more than fixing rusty fenders. Even after the civil rights stuff, bigotry still lives. Things like the injustices to his nice black neighbor, whose family was cheated out of their land a century ago, and the cruel way Mr. Dunlap abuses his children. And then there is the cross burning.
While trying to make things right, Red uncovers facts he would never have guessed about his long-gone relatives and his daddy. Somehow, before Red and his family move to Ohio, he has to change a shameful family legacy…but can one kid make a difference?
about the author
Born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Kathryn Erskine has lived all over the world. She learned about moving when she was a tot in Israel. In South Africa, she carried her books on her head and sang native songs. Her sister couldn’t convince her that she was really an American. In Scotland, she went to a Hogwarts’ castle- type school and learned about detention, and that it was not acceptable to let the biology mice go. In Newfoundland, Canada, she discovered icebergs in the harbor, the silver thaw, and curling!
Kathryn was an avid reader, and her parents allowed her to read whatever she wished. She finished To Kill a Mockingbird when she was eight. She always knew she would be an author, but planned to do it after she retired!
Able to speak both Arabic and Mandarin Chinese, Kathryn almost became the Foreign Service’s youngest member. Not caring for some of America’s foreign policies, she became a lawyer—a trademark attorney for the US Department of Commerce.
When Kathryn’s mother died at the age of 60, Kathryn realized that life was too short and unpredictable. She decided to do what she always wanted to do—write! Kathryn is now the author of four award-winning novels.
For Seeing Red she started with the character Red and the setting of the early 1970’s. It took Kathryn a long time and a lot of research to write the book. She had been living outside the country and had not experienced the civil rights movement. She wanted to address racism, but her first attempts were too tentative. As she gained confidence as a writer, her approach became more honest and raw. It bothered a lot of critics, but then Kathryn never writes for praise.
Kathryn lives in Virginia and points out that being an award-winning author isn’t all glamorous stuff. She still has to make unplanned runs to the emergency room, shop at the health food store, and clean out the icky broken freezer!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: BookBox
Author interview: Summit Series for Families
Author interview: Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Author interview: On Beyond Words & Pictures
Author interview: A. B. Westrick
Also by Kathryn Erskine:
The Badger Knight. Scholastic. 2014.
The Absolute Value of Mike. Philomel. 2011.
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