The Reading Warehouse

About
Colored Pencils for Lori

When there's a setback, you regroup, recover, and things find their way back to normalcy. Nothing is ever normal after someone who has been the backbone of a family is suddenly out of the picture. For Lori Brown and her mother, life with its expected comforts were no longer guaranteed. Not since they had to leave their cozy home on a nice piece of property her grandmother owned. That eviction changed everything for Lori and her mother.

One unfortunate event at school in December of 1968, just days before Christmas, has Lori in a tailspin. It is the day of the gift exchange, and she shows up to her fifth-grade class. . . without a gift Lori finds herself in the throes of what could possibly be the worst day of all her years at the Eldridge Park Elementary School.

Oh, the looks she receives; the sneers she notices when she looks up from her Weekly Reader. Worst yet, are the confrontations she faces throughout the day when she must explain her situation. How does Lori cope with the embarrassment and the shame?

Lori's struggle unearths other secrets. Secrets that Lori would have rather kept concealed. She relies on the help of a friend, her teacher, a guidance counselor, and a very unlikely source, who comes to her rescue at the end of this awful day.

Colored Pencils for Lori can be enjoyed and appreciated by middle school-aged children and their parents. The book deals with the loss of a family member, and how that loss can directly impact the surviving members. The story is heart-warming and humorous. It takes an honest look at real struggles that spill outside of the home and affect children in their school environments.

Colored Pencils for Lori is a work of fiction based on a real event that took place in the author's life.

Beverly L. Moore-Author of
Colored Pencils for Lori