Ladies & Gentlemen, Please Welcome Our Guest:

Author Cheryl D. Bannerman.   She will be taking over thelaughinghousewife for a moment.

About the Author 

Cheryl McNeil (pen name, Cheryl D. Bannerman, her birth name) is CEO of a small virtual training company based out of Central New Jersey. She works out of her home office and creates classroom training materials, e-Learning modules, job aides and much more for corporate employees and their clients. She holds a Bachelors in Business Management and a Masters in Project Management. She is also the (divorced) single mother of a beautiful eleven year old girl. 

In her spare time she loves to read murder mysteries, watch movies, try new restaurants and cuisines, shop with her daughter, and in the summer, walk the boardwalk and take in the sun on the beach. Although her works are fiction, she has incorporated many of her life’s experiences into her stories. 

You can find Cheryl at www.bannermanbooks.com

Visit her tour page at Pump Up Your Book, http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2010/10/02/black-child-to-black-woman-virtual-book-tour-october-10/

Book Synopsis:

Black Child to Black Woman is a ‘live diary’ experience that will grab your attention right from the start. Tara Walker speaks directly to the reader as she adds entry after entry into her Journal. She documents her experiences, her family life, her triumphs, as well as her interpretation of life and the world as she saw it. As she grows, so does the language and tone of the diary, which matches her maturity and speech patterns as the time passes.  

Experiences are mere images engraved in our minds that we recall when future events occur such as a tragedy or even when a song is playing on the radio. Tara has captured those moments in time in her diary, even the painful ones. Although she came from a loving home with both parents, she struggled to come to grips with siblings addicted to drugs, molestation, attempted rape, broken hearts, and so much more.  

Her diary experiences will make you laugh, cry, scream, sigh, and gasp aloud. As Tara struggles to keep her head above water and fight through the tribulations of her life, she continues to smile, continues to grow as a person, continues to be successful in her career, and continues to survive. Through it all and through her daughter, she eventually discovers the true meaning of unconditional love. 

Come discover life through the eyes of Tara as she grows from a black child to a black woman.

Excerpt:

From a small town down South…

Hi. My name is Tara. Tara Walker. I’m just a child (nine years old to be exact), though sometimes I don’t feel like one. I’m one of those kids that is tall for my age. But that’s not all. I see and hear things I am not supposed to. Grown-ups are always tryin’ to hide stuff from me, like I don’t know already. 

Trying to be a good little girl is not hard for me. I don’t say much so it makes it easy to be the perfect little girl I am supposed to and expected to be. Good in school, no trouble at home, and I eat just about anything, so you can’t even say I’m a picky eater. Sometimes I wonder why everyone always calls me “heavy-handed”. I guess it’s because I break things by accident, and also I’m kind of klutzy, I guess you could say. I’m much taller than most of my friends which makes me somewhat stronger than most my age. This is not something I do on purpose, but I think my mom and dad think that I do. Speaking of mom and dad, I guess you want to know about them, huh? Well, my mom works for this bank in Philadelphia called “1st Pennsy” I think. Anyway, she works all the time and mostly the late shift, so I’m stuck with my brother watching me until my dad comes home. My mom is nice. She’s very pretty, and very classy, from what I hear. I try to be like her and also listen to everything she tells me because she’s smart.

Sometimes my mom is upset because of my dad. You see, my dad drinks acka-hall (that’s a bad drink), and my mom doesn’t like it too much. Sometimes their fighting wakes me up and I can’t get back to sleep for a long time. My dad’s really cool! He’s funny and he takes me everywhere. He works at this lumber company where they sell wood and when he has to take me with him to work I get to pretend I’m building all these neat things with hammers and nails. I get lost in my own little world and even forget to have lunch!  My dad takes me everywhere! Oh, wait, I said that already. Sorry. Well, this may seem weird to you but I even go with him to the bar. It’s a place where all these people meet every day or weekend, I think. They drink that stuff my mom doesn’t like and play pool (some boring game with sticks and balls), and video games. Whenever I go there I would drink soda from these tiny little glasses and eat snacks from a bowl and play video games. My favorite game was Space Invaders. Pinball was cool too. Everyone treats me great. It’s like I am a movie star! Whenever I run out of quarters I just get more from my dad. That is my typical Friday or Saturday night. I guess my mom is at work. I don’t really know.

Q:  Who was your inspiration for writing the novel?  Why did you feel it was best to chronicle the novel in journal form?  The books starts out in the voice of a little girl and matures to adulthood. What voice did you find the easiest to write about and why? 
 
A:  The inspiration for writing the novel came from within, although my parents were the inspiration in regards to the family dedication and loyalty to their children. They provided for me in every way growing up; the best schools, the fanciest clothes, extravagant vacations, and more. And of course the Lord has blessed with the talent to write and the motivation to move forward with getting it published.  Since I have always written in a journal throughout my life, to present my first novel in this format and have Tara tell her story in her own words, was even more inspirational for me as I told the many stories within the book.  I wanted the reader to feel as if Tara were speaking directly to them as a friend; so that they would be more inclined to listen, be involved, and care about her welfare and what she was going through.
 I found the voice of the 9 year-old to be the easiest, but most emotional, to write about.  Memories of childhood were flooding my head and were dying to leap unto the paper and tell their story. Tears of joy and sorrow and pain stained the paper often while documenting many real experiences from my life and the lives of so many people I am close to.