Īs she became a teenager, Porter became more interested in works by black writers and about black characters.

Porter describes herself as an anxious and quiet child who liked to read, enjoying the works of Lois Lenski and Beverely Cleary. Her parents, who survived the Great Depression, raised a family of ten, the children spread 23 years apart, and lived on a meager fixed income, experiencing hard times. Porter spent her childhood and youth growing up in Lackawanna, New York, a small city just outside Buffalo in the Baker Housing project with her family. In addition, she published two novels with Houghton-Mifflin, All-Bright Court (1991), and Imani All Mine (1999). Porter is best known for her contribution to the American Girl Collection Series as the author of the Addy books: six of her Addy books have gone on to sell more than 3 million copies. (Sept.Connie Rose Porter (born July 29, 1959) is an African-American writer of young-adult books, and a teacher of creative writing. A third installment, Addy's Surprise, is also due in September. Rosales's emotion-charged illustrations effectively convey Addy's affability and pluck. As in the previous American Girls novels, these two neatly balance fiction and fact, the latter quality reinforced by the concise historical notes, entitled ``A Peek into the Past,'' which conclude each volume.

Porter's easily flowing narrative follows Addy as she attends school for the first time and learns about the true meaning of friendship. The second novel, lacking the dramatic tension of its predecessor but equally poignant, recounts Addy's adjustment to living free in an unfamiliar urban environment.

In a heart-rending scene, the two leave Addy's young sister, Esther, in the care of fellow slaves and begin their harrowing journey on foot to a ``safe house.'' From there they are transported by abolitionists to a ship that takes them to Philadelphia-and freedom. But after Addy's father and older brother are sold to another master, mother and daughter make the break alone. In the first, the nine-year-old girl, a slave on a North Carolina plantation during the Civil War, overhears her parents whispering about the possibility of running away. Addy Walker, the newest character in the American Girls Collection of dolls, accessories and books, stars in these bright historical novels.

Addy by Connie Rose Porter