Who is the real-life inspiration for Justin?
I never use real people in my stories. Any one character in my story is made up traits I’ve observed in a number of people.
What would you like readers to take away from reading Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World?
Life is a series of choices. Justin had to choose to listen to his grandpa and learn that sometimes it is necessary for us to do all kinds of jobs. I’d like readers to see that it’s easy to do a job when we know how to do it well, and that there are times in our lives that we cry, and it is all right. Most of all, I hope to share an awareness of African-American history because I believe that when we know who we are and where we have come from we can decide where we want to go.
Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World was first published in 1986, yet it is still relevant today. Why do you think that is?
Many boys still find that Justin is very much like them. They are being raised in families with single mothers and too often the men who should be in their lives are missing. It can be hard for them to know just how a man should behave. They see cooking, washing dishes, folding clothes, and cleaning their rooms as “woman’s work.” I get many letters from boys telling me that they like the way Grandpa showed Justin how to do so many things. Many of them are surprised to see the contributions that African-Americans made to the rodeo.
Is there one question that kids always want to know about you or the books you’ve written? What is it?
Many want to know how old I am and if I’m rich. Many want to know which of my books I like the most. I tell them that the story I’m working on now is the one I like the most because I’m so busy caring for it and working to see that it develops into a book that can stand on its own.
About the Author
MILDRED PITTS WALTER is widely admired for her positive, realistic portraits of African-American family life. A former elementary school teacher, she truly enjoys the company of children and relishes hearing what they have on their minds. Mrs. Walter has been honored with many awards during her long writing career, including the 1987 Coretta Scott King Award for JUSTIN AND THE BEST BISCUITS IN THE WORLD and the 1993 Christopher Award for MISSISSIPPI CHALLENGE. The author lives in Denver. In 1996 she was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame.
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ALSO BY MILDRED PITTS WALTER
Novels
Because We Are
The Girl on the Outside
Have a Happy…: A Novel About Kwanzaa
Lillie of Watts: A Birthday Discovery
Lillie of Watts Takes a Giant Step
Mariah Keeps Cool
Mariah Loves Rock
Ray and the Best Family Reunion Ever
Second Daughter: The Story of a Slave Girl
Suitcase
Trouble’s Child
Nonfiction
Kwanzaa: A Family Affair
Mississippi Challenge
Credits
Cover art © 2010 by James Bernardin
Copyright
Chapter 8, THE EXODUSTERS, is based on information from the scholarly work EXODUSTERS: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction by Nell Irvin Painter, first published in 1977 by Albert A. Knopf.
JUSTIN AND THE BEST BISCUITS IN THE WORLD. Text copyright © 1986 by Mildred Pitts Walter. Illustrations copyright © 1986 by Catherine Stock. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Walter, Mildred Pitts.
Justin and the best biscuits in the world.
p. cm.
Summary: Suffering in a family full of females, ten-year-old Justin feels that cleaning and keeping house are women’s work until he spends time on his beloved grandfather’s ranch.
ISBN 978-0-06-195891-5
[1. Sex roles—Fiction. 2. Grandfathers—Fiction. 3. Ranch life—Fiction. 4. Family life—Fiction. 5. Afro-Americans—Fiction.] I. Stock, Catherine, ill. 2. Title.
PZ7.W17125Ju 1986 86007148
Fic CIP
AC
First paperback edition, 2010
EPub Edition © April 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-201273-9
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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