Sassy Uncovers Peter Allen’s Secret E-Book

B.A. Johnson

• Herausgeber: Fresh Ink Group
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 72

Beschreibung

Proud to be AME, young “Sassy” loves everything about her African Methodist Episcopal church. After learning how it was founded in Sassy Discovers the AME Church, now she and her friends and her brother, Franklin, are excited to research and make youth-group presentations about other famous African Americans who have made a difference. Curious about their founder’s family, Sassy becomes a history detective determined to uncover the truth about his son, Peter Allen. In Sassy Uncovers Peter Allen’s Secret, what amazing story will Sassy get to tell?

Leseprobe

Sassy Uncovers Peter Allen’s Secret

Copyright © 2021by B. A. JohnsonAll rights reserved

Fresh Ink GroupAn Imprint of:The Fresh Ink Group, LLC1021 Blount Avenue #931Guntersville, AL 35976Email: [email protected]

Edition 1.0 2022

Edited by Stephen Geez / FIG

Art by Anik / FIG

Author Photo by BPO+Digital Media

Author’s Makeup by Shan-Lo Makeup, LLC

Book design by Amit Dey / FIG

Cover design by Stephen Geez / FIG

Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 and except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, no portion of this book’s content may be stored in any medium, transmitted in any form, used in whole or part, or sourced for derivative works such as videos, television, and motion pictures, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Cataloging-in-Publication Recommendations:

JUV011010 JUVENILE FICTION / People & Places / United States / African American & Black

REL091000 RELIGION / Christian Education / Children & Youth JUV033240 JUVENILE FICTION / Religious / Christian / Values & Virtues

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921493

ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-78-8 Papercover

ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-85-6 Hardcover

ISBN-13: 978-1-947893-86-3 Ebooks

Sassy Uncovers Peter Allen’s Secret is dedicated to Reverend Mark Kelly Tyler, PhD, Senior Pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Tyler’s research on the life of Peter Allen inspired the writing of this story.

This book is also dedicated to Mrs. Ollye Conley, a noted Huntsville historian who introduced me to the history of Peter Allen and shared Dr. Tyler’s research.

Acknowledgements

I am continually inspired to write by my significant other, my family, my close friends, and other writers. I’m grateful to each for allowing me the time and space to collect my thoughts, be as creative as possible, and spend countless hours with my laptop instead of them. The support and encouragement of my fellow published author friends, Mrs. Barbara Bradford Mostella and Mrs. Ecleave Jackson, compelled me to finish this book. My beta readers—Ms. Lady Hereford, Dr. Thalia Love-Brown, Dr. Janice Draper-Toney, Ms. Paula Pippen, and Mrs. Kay Adkins—provided priceless assistance. Thank you, ladies, for taking the time to read and give very helpful feedback. The St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church family and members of the AME church worldwide are some of my most enthusiastic fans, people whose patronage I greatly appreciate.

Lastly, I am thankful to my talented editor, Stephen Geez, who helped keep my characters in the right tense and place, and had them say the right things when the time was right. Anik is a gifted artist/illustrator, who can always bring to life the characters in my head and make them lifelike and likeable by kids of all ages.

This second book, Sassy Uncovers Peter Allen’s Secret, was truly a labor of love for children everywhere, brought to fruition with the assistance of an outstanding publisher, Fresh Ink Group.

Preface

Have you ever noticed the family on old church fans? Every church has them—fans, that is. The ushers usually pass them out at the door on hot summer Sundays or during funerals. The family looks like any other devout church members, but they have no names. Who are these people? They don’t look like anybody at this church. By the age of ten, I decided to give them names and identities.

The little girl is Mary Margaret Fanson. You might know her from the fans in your church. Her dad and mom are Brock and Gloria Fanson. Her big brother is Franklin. During the week, they and their fan live in a storage unit with the Holy Bible and the church hymnal. On Sundays they come alive and jump off the fan to attend Big Morning Star African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Mary Margaret’s grandmother is not on the fan, but she lives with them, too. She’s called Big Momma, not that she’s big or anything, but she is older. Big Momma and Mary Margaret spend a lot of time together.

Big Momma thinks Sassy is smarter and more high-spirited than most little girls her age, which is why she calls her Sassy. The Fansons are members of Big Morning Star. They are proud AMEs. Sassy boasts that she has been attending that church all her life. She’s ten years old, so that’s a long time.

Last year in Children’s Church, Sassy learned the history of the AME Church. She was very excited to finally understand why Big Momma is so thrilled to be a member. Sassy and Big Momma would sit on the patio, eat sugar cookies, and drink lemonade while Big Momma told her all about the church. As Sassy learned the history, she felt really proud that her church was started by a Black man, Bishop Richard Allen, in 1794 in Philadelphia. Sassy found it amazing that more than 2.5 million members of her church live on five of the seven continents. She could go on vacation anywhere and find an AME church!

Sassy and Franklin participate in many of the church’s youth activities, socializing with their friends and making new ones. Franklin met his friend Dontay at Vacation Bible School. Sassy’s best friend in the whole wide world is Patrice, whom she calls Patty Cake. Patty Cake and Sassy met Rosa, their first Hispanic friend, at Vacation Bible School. They liked Rosa right off because she could speak two languages. By the end of Vacation Bible School, they were speaking Spanish, too.

Big Morning Star African Methodist Episcopal Church is very important to Sassy and her family—and that’s a big family because it includes all their friends, too!

Chapter 1

My name is Mary Margaret Fanson. My grandmother, Big Momma, calls me “Sassy” because she says I’m “precocious.” It’s a new school year in this small tight-knit community. Franklin and his friends are middle-schoolers, and I am now in the fifth grade. After making it through the first semester, we are now in the middle of our winter break—also called Christmas Holiday in some schools. It does not matter what it is called; we just know we are out of school for at least two weeks.

The best part of Christmas is sharing it with the family and all our church friends. Patty Cake and I help bake cakes and cookies for the big Christmas meal, then spend hours at the mall shopping for just the right gifts. We still have more baking to do when we return. While we are inside with Big Momma, Franklin and his friends—Manuel, Dontay, and Gerald—help decorate the outside of the house. My friends and I have loads of fun during the two-week break from school.

Christmas comes and goes at the Fanson house. All the gifts are warmly received. The dinner prepared by my mother, Gloria Fanson, and Big Momma is, as usual, spectacular: roasted turkey, dressing or stuffing, baked ham, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, sweet-potato casserole, green beans, corn on the cob, Watergate Salad, stuffed eggs, hot buttered Parker House rolls, and of course sweet tea. The meal is topped off with desserts of all kinds: German Chocolate cake, three-layer coconut cake, lemon-iced pound cake, different kinds of cookies, and the best homemade candies you would ever put in your mouth. Everyone eats their fill and takes some home. That is just how my family rolls with holiday dinner. We prepare enough food for an army, and it is enough to last for days.

With Christmas behind us, it is time to look forward to the new year.

Chapter 2

The first Sunday of the new year comes quickly to Big Morning Star African Methodist Episcopal Church. Like every Sunday, my family and I dress, eat breakfast, and off we go to the best church in the whole wide world. As soon as Franklin and I can, we meet up with our friends for church school. Franklin goes with his friends Manuel, Dontay, and Gerald to their class. Patty Cake, Rosa, and I go to our class.

We had learned so much church history last year that our teacher cannot think of any questions we cannot answer. Ms. Destiny, the YPD Director, calls us little history detectives . . . uncovering secrets and history and learning about our church. Big Momma just calls it, “being a good AME,” knowing your heritage. I am so proud when she says that.

I am glad Big Momma had helped motivate and teach me and my school-friend Gerald all that history. Now I can really say with pride, “I Am AME!”