Vaunda Micheaux Nelson will discuss new book for young readers 'Radiant'

AT BOOKS ON THE BOSQUE

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson of Rio Rancho will talk about her new book for young readers, “Radiant,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, at Books on the Bosque.

In the novel, Cooper Dale has two major worries. One is a very strict teacher, Mrs. Keating, whom she nicknames “The Queen of Darkness.”

Cooper’s other worry is Wade Carter, the child of a well-to-do white family whose home Cooper’s mom cleans for extra income.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson will discuss new book for young readers 'Radiant'

The story is set in the 1960s against the backdrop of the fatal Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Beatlemania.

“Radiant” is about race, class, faith, family and finding your place in the world.

Kirkus Review stated, “This verse novel examines complex themes of identity, forgiveness, self-love and self-actualization through writing that’s accessible to young readers.”

Nelson is known for her fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her nonfiction book “Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal” won the 2010 Coretta Scott King Award.

Nelson is a former youth services librarian in Rio Rancho.

Books on the Bosque is located at 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW.

AT BOOKWORKS

David Dorado Romo will be in conversation with Alexandra Diaz about Romo’s new book “Borderlands and the Mexican American Story” at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at Bookworks.

The book is a rethinking of the history of Mexican American life on the borderlands.

As Romo states in his introduction, “(Mexican Americans) don’t fit in one category or stay in one place. They cross borders. Although they originally didn’t cross the border — rather, the border crossed them. Their ancestors had been living in what is now the American Southwest long before it became part of the United States …”

The book is aimed at middle school and high school readers, but it also serves as an important read for adults who want to know more about the many hidden and untold stories and events in the history of the borderlands.

The book is part of the Crown Books for Young Readers’ Race to the Truth Series.

Romo was born in San José, California, raised in El Paso and lives near the Texas city. He is a historian who specializes in border studies.

Another border-related book by Romo is “Ringside Seat to a Revolution, An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juárez, 1893-1923.”

“Those were 40 years that the cities played a role in the Mexican Revolution,” he said.

The book, published in 2005 and now in its fourth printing, is still used in college-level classes, Romo noted.

Bookworks is located at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW.

IN RIO RANCHO AND SANTA FE

Rebecca Borland Reynolds will discuss her book “Thresholds of Change: The Way Through Transformational Times” at events in Rio Rancho and in Santa Fe.

Her free Rio Rancho event is at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Loma Colorado Library, 755 Loma Colorado Blvd. NE; and her Santa Fe event is at the New Mexico Book Association’s Winter Fiesta, which begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at Las Campanas, 132 Clubhouse Drive. She will give the fiesta’s keynote address. Admission to the fiesta is $50 at nmbookassociation.org.

Reynolds, a Santa Fe-based consultant, said that in the last 10 to 15 years she started noticing large-scale changes in things like climate and pandemics.

And secondly, Reynolds said, she was becoming aware of an “increasing dismay at how much harder change is for people than it needs to be. I wondered if there was something about what I was doing that could be distilled to help people with change at a much broader scale than just my clients. That’s what caused me to think about writing a book.”