Books with author Jerrie Oughton

When Edie Jo Houp's father opens the "biggest can of worms you ever did see" by suggesting that the Vine Street Baptist Church ope its Vacation Bible School to all the children of Half Moon, North Carolina - including the Indian children - practically everyone in town turns on the Houps. Thirteen-year-old Edie Jo isn't sure how she feels about ther daddy's idea. That summer of 1956, however, is one of change and growth. Up at her own private place, she meets and Indian boy named Cherokee Fish. A tentative connection develops between them as they begin to share their secrets and dreams. As the tensions that summer reach their peak, Edie Jo ultimately learns that "friendships don't shape on color."

“This story makes you believe in the love and laughter and friendship that give you hope in the worst of times” (Booklist). Thirteen-year-old Shanta Cola Morgan is an orphan who lives with her grandmother and her bedridden Uncle Louie. It isn’t exactly a typical family like other kids have. But during the scary summer of 1945, as World War II rages overseas and new neighbors move in across the street, hard times and conflict creep into Shanta’s life as stealthily as kudzu in the Georgia countryside. As Shanta, her grandmother, and Louie dig deep to keep love and humor in their home, Shanta learns how a family sustains each other—and discovers the painful truth that there are worse things than not having parents . . .

The summer Edie Jo meets Cherokee Fish is the summer her whole world changes. Her town is astir with anti-Native American tension, and it seems that her father is the only person in all of North Carolina who believes in integration. Thirteen-year-old Edie Jo isn't even sure how she feels, and the entrance of the mysterious Cherokee Fish confuses her even more. Little by little, though, she and this gentle Indian boy begin to share their secrets and dreams. Their friendship will be one that Edie Jo will never forget.

Welcome Marie O'Neal is finally starting to enjoy her 15th year and can't wait to turn 16. She meets Nicholas Canton and, though her parents don't approve, the two start dating. Soon Welcome is head over heels in love and she can't believe it won't last forever. But the romance ends with the summer and when things fall apart, Welcome finds herself confused, heartbroken, and...in trouble. There aren't many people Welcome can turn to for help or advice in her small Southern town in 1955, especially not in her "perfect" family. The decisions Welcome has to make will change her life forever.