BRANFORD, Conn., Oct. 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CUTV News today announced author Jennifer Louise Haes as a featured guest on CUTV News. Haes is the author of Changes in Crystal Springs, the story of a family seeking change in a small Minnesota town fraught with racial discrimination. Haes joins host Jim Masters to discuss her book, the writing process and more.
In the tradition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Changes in Crystal Springs doesn't just tell a story; it carries a strong social and cultural messages. The book follows eight-year-old Bib Harper and his family, who move to Minnesota to begin a new life only to encounter the political turmoil of the civil rights movement.
"I woke up one morning and I heard a little boy's voice say, "This year I got a jack knife in my Christmas stocking,'" recalls Haes. "It was the voice of Bib Harper narrating the entire story to me. It took me three days to write the first draft of the whole book. A lot of people think it's strange, but I've heard many other authors describe their experience it in much the same way."
Set in 1968, Bib witnesses the events of the civil rights movement firsthand. Haes admits many elements of the story have been drawn from her own personal experience. The area in Minnesota where she grew up was racially divided; many of the whites in her community supported Jim Crow laws.
"He doesn't understand why these things are happening and why there is a difference between colors of people," says Haes. "His attitude is similar to what I felt. Being that age, you don't have a voice to implement change. There was no one in the town I grew up that supported change. There was only a fight against it."
Of course, racial division continues to today. Though Changes in Crystal Springs was first published in 2014, Haes actually wrote the book in 1996. With the #BlackLivesMatter movement and protests sweeping the country, the book is somehow even more relevant today than when it was originally written.
"This is a story that always needs to be told," says Haes. "Racism still persists in our culture. I want readers to remember the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement. I hope reading this book gives people a feeling of understanding. Not only adults went through the experience of the civil rights movement. The children did too."
"People are people," says Haes. "It's time for people to love each other."
To purchase Changes in Crystal Springs, visit https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781631226618
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