Kandi (PB) (2019)

Kandi's story began in 1943, when, at age 7, her family made a life-changing move from their small southern town, Granville, Georgia, to a large industrial city, Columbus, Ohio. Excitement, bordered that of mixed emotions by her parents, James and Fannie Kane, her fourteen-year old sister, Elsie, nine-year old brother, Rickey, and three-year old brother, Ray-Jay.
The long train ride was worth it, Kandi's parents had reasoned. It was time to leave that insufferable system of segregation for a new life, with new opportunities for them and their children.
Kandi was gifted in the arts, and did well in school, despite a speech impediment that affected her personally and socially. You will marvel at how her run-in with a school-yard bully proved to be a building block that helped to reshape her personality.
Flashback stories of her mother's growing-up days revealed an inner strength Kandi leaned on after learning of the mysterious disappearance of her mother's brother years before, and the heart-wrenching experience of one of her close friends that left a deep wound that would set her back--temporarily.