Mary Lyons has turned a search for personal roots into a literary exploration of the South. "My way of finding home" is how Lyons has explained her work. In award-winning fiction and nonfiction titles for middle readers and young adults, Lyons has explored the lives of historically marginalized members of our society, both African Americans and women. Her nonfiction works for middle readers include the highly praised series, "African-American Artists and Artisans," and her books for young adults include Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston, Letters from a Slave Girl: The Story of Harriet Jacobs, and The Poison Place: A Novel. Her books celebrate the "triumph of the human spirit," Lyons told Authors and Artists for Young Adults (AAYA) in an interview. "As corny as it might sound, that's what the subjects of my books have accomplished. As women and African Americans, they had...