{"product_id":"you-know-better-9780060512460","title":"You Know Better","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs the tiny town of Mulberry, Georgia, celebrates its spring Peach Blossom Festival, things are far from peachy for three generations of Pines women. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEighteen-year-old LaShawndra, who wants nothing more out of life than to dance in a music video, has messed up again -- but this time she isn't sticking around to hear about it. Not that her mother seems to care: Sandra is too busy working on her career and romancing a local minister to notice. It's LaShawndra's grandmother Lily Paine Pines who is out scouring the streets at midnight looking for her granddaughter. But Lily discovers she is not alone. A ghost of a well-known Mulberry pioneer is coming out of the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the course of one weekend, these three disparate women, guided by the wisdom of three unexpected spirits, will learn to face the pain of their lives and discover that with reconciliation comes the healing they all desperately seek. \u003cem\u003eYou Know Better\u003c\/em\u003e brilliantly portrays the fissures in modern African American family life to reveal the indestructible soul that bonds us all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnsa, Tina McElroy:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eNovelist Tina McElroy Ansa calls herself part of a writing tradition, one of those little Southern girls who always knew she wanted to be a writer. She grew up in Middle Georgia in the 1950s hearing her grandfather's stories on the porch of her family home and strangers' stories downtown in her father's juke joint, which have inspired Mulberry, Georgia, the mythical world of her four novels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTina McElroy Ansa was born in Macon, GA, the youngest of five children. In 1971, she graduated from Spelman College, the historically black women's college which is part of the Atlanta University Center in Atlanta, GA. Her first job after college was on the copy desk of \u003cem\u003eThe Atlanta Constitution, \u003c\/em\u003e where she was the first black woman to work on the morning newspaper. During her eight years at \u003cem\u003eThe Atlanta Constitution, \u003c\/em\u003e she worked as copy editor, makeup editor, layout editor, entertainment writer, features editor, and news reporter. She also worked as editor and copy editor for \u003cem\u003eThe Charlotte (NC) Observer.\u003c\/em\u003e Since 1982, she has been a freelance journalist, newspaper columnist and writing workshop instructor at Brunswick College, Emory University and Spelman College.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTina McElroy Ansa's fourth novel, \u003cem\u003eYou Know Better, \u003c\/em\u003e will be published in Spring 2002 by William Morrow Publishers. The novel addresses the contemporary issues of children today, the tenuous ties we are building with them, and how we can reclaim them. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMs. Ansa's first novel, \u003cem\u003eBaby of the Family, \u003c\/em\u003e was published in 1989 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and was named a Notable Book of the Year by the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times. Baby of the Family\u003c\/em\u003e was also on the African-American Bestseller List for Paperback Fiction. In October 2001, \u003cem\u003eBaby of the Family\u003c\/em\u003e was chosen by the Georgia Center for the Book as one of the Top 25 Books Every Georgian Should Read. The book also won both the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 1990 Award, and won the 1989 Georgia Authors Series Award. She and her husband, AFI (American Film Institute) Fellow filmmaker JoneÃ(c) Ansa, are currently adapting \u003cem\u003eBaby of the Family\u003c\/em\u003e for the screen as a feature film starring Alfre Woodard, Ruby Dee, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Cylk Cozart, Vanessa Williams, Todd Bridges, Pam Grier, and Tonea Stewart. The author is collaborating with her husband on the screenplay for \u003cem\u003eBaby of the Family, \u003c\/em\u003e which he will direct and shoot in summer 2002 in Macon, GA. Ms. Ansa is executive producer. Patrice Rushen is the film's composer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarcourt Brace published Ms. Ansaâ (TM)s second novel, \u003cem\u003eUgly Ways, \u003c\/em\u003e in July 1993. The African-American Blackboard List named the novel Best Fiction in 1994. Ms. Ansa was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 1994 for \u003cem\u003eUgly Ways\u003c\/em\u003e and the novel was on the African-American Best-sellers\/Blackboard List for more than two years. Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard has entered into a partnership with Ms. Ansa to bring \u003cem\u003eUgly Ways\u003c\/em\u003e to the screen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Hand I Fan With, \u003c\/em\u003e her third novel, was published in October of 1996 by Doubleday. This is the beautifully erotic love story of Lena McPherson and the 100-year old ghost -- Herman -- she calls up to love and cherish her. The novel was awarded the Georgia Authors Series Award for 1996. Ms. Ansa also won this same award for her debut novel, \u003cem\u003eBaby in the Family, \u003c\/em\u003e and is the only two-time winner of the honor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTina McElroy Ansa is a regular contributor to the award-winning television series \u003cem\u003eCBS Sunday Morning\u003c\/em\u003e with her essays, Postcards from Georgia. She also writes magazine and newspaper articles, Op-Ed pieces and book reviews for the \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times, (New York) Newsday, The Atlanta Constitution, \u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eFlorida Times-Union.\u003c\/em\u003e Her non-fiction work has appeared in \u003cem\u003eEssence Magazine, The Crisis Magazine, MS. Magazine, America Magazine, \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAtlanta Magazine.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTina McElroy Ansa was a Writer-in-Residence at her alma mater Spelman College in Atlanta, GA in the Fall of 1990 where she also taught creative writing. In addition to touring for her books and giving lectures, she has presented her work at the Smithsonian's African-American Center's Author's Series; the Richard Wright\/Zora Neale Hurston Foundation; the PEN\/Faulkner Reading Series and fundraisers at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Schomburg Center and the PEN American Center. She is on the Advisory Council for the Georgia Center for the Book and on the host committee for the Flannery O'Connor Awards.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReflecting her concern with the issue of homelessness in this country, she has participated in fund-raising events including readings at the SOS-sponsored Writers Harvest at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA and at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. She has also volunteered for fundraisers and house-buildings for Habitat for Humanity and has read at Atlanta-based fundraisers for Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe and her husband, JoneÃ(c) Ansa, have lived on St. Simons Island, GA since 1984. Together they produced and directed the 1989 Georgia Sea Island Festival, a 20-year old grassroots festival that seeks to preserve crafts, music, slave chants, games, food and the spirit of the African-American people who lived and worked as slaves on the rice and cotton plantations along the Georgia coast. Ms. Ansa is an avid birder, amateur naturalist, and gardener. She always has collard greens growing in her garden among the black-eyed Susans and moonflowers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613015052562,"sku":"9780060512460","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c099aa01-1634-4a0f-a3b5-dfad6786a469.jpg?v=1732383832","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/you-know-better-9780060512460","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}