Harriette Gillem Robinet grew up in Washington, D.C. and lived her childhood summers in Arlington, Virginia, near the home of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, where her ancestors had been slaves. In 1960 she and her husband moved to suburban Chicago, Illinois, where she began writing. The birth of a disabled son proved to be an influential experience for Robinet; the main character of Jay and the Marigold suffers from cerebral palsy, as was the case with Robinet's own child. Much of her other writing has been influenced, she once explained, by meeting other handicapped children and adults, who "have shared some of their anger, dreams, and victories." The focus of Robinet's more recent work, however, has shifted to American historical events, such as the Chicago fire, the Battle of 1812, the emancipation of the slaves during and after the U.S. Civil War, and the Montgomery, Alabama, bus...