Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lesa Cline Ransome’s Twitter profile says she enjoys “giving past stories new life.” Her first children’s book was a biography about Satchel Paige, and since then, she has written several award winning biographies about African Americans for children. Before She Was Harriet; The Power of Her Pen: The story of groundbreaking journalist Ethel L. Payne; and Just a Lucky So and So: The story of Louis Armstrong are just a few of her many acclaimed titles. She has also written historical fiction, including Finding Langston and its sequel, Leaving Langston. Many of Lesa’s books are illustrated by her husband, James Ransome, but they typically have separate creative processes, working on a book at different times. When she’s not reading or writing, Lesa loves asking questions, eating avocados (with cilantro), listening to vinyl records and live music, and spending time with her four children. Learn more about Lesa at www.lesaclineransome.com.

Lesa's Process & Artifacts

Watch the video recording of our interview with Lesa Cline-Ransome. In this video, Lesa talks about her writing process and decisions for this book:

Being invited to write for this series
How she began her research: “I started with another biography about Claudette.” [2:37]
Visiting the Rosa Parks Museum in Alabama as part of her research process on Claudette Colvin [3:45]
Making a personal connection with the writing subject [5:30] and [23:51]
Deciding to include the experience of Claudette Colvin losing her sister [8:00]
Learning about the role of outstanding teachers in developing Claudette’s activist stance [9:55]
Deciding what to include and what to leave out in the biography [12:35]
Conveying the historical context for readers [17:42]
Writing a biography in a series [21:10]
Choosing to include questions throughout the biography [23:45]
How do incorporate dialogue or quotes [25:44]

Lesa's Books