In 1974, Bette published her second novel, Philip Hall Likes Me. I Reckon Maybe. It was named an ALA Notable Book and a New York Times Outstanding Book and collected numerous additional honors including the Newbery Honor, the Kirkus Choice Award, and the Child Study Association of America’s Children’s Book Award.
Inspired by her readers, who demanded more adventures of Beth Lambert and Phillip Hall, Bette Greene wrote two more books in the Phillip Hall trilogy: Get On Out of Here, Philip Hall and I’ve Already Forgotten Your Name, Philip Hall!
In 1978, Bette published her sequel to Summer of My German Soldier, Morning Is a Long Time Coming. In 1983, Bette was awarded the keys to the City of Memphis. That same year she published Them That Glitter and Them That Don’t, a novel inspired by the real lives of Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, which received the Parents’ Choice Award.
In 1991, Bette published The Drowning of Stephan Jones. This book, based on the true story of the death of Charles O. Howard in Bangor, Maine, was banned, censored, and challenged by school boards, libraries, and parents across the country. To this day, the Eckerd Wilderness Camps use The Drowning of Stephan Jones as bibliotherapy, giving copies to campers who have been victims of abuse.
By 2010, Bette Greene’s readers had taken it upon themselves to create a Facebook page for her, as well as a page for Summer of My German Soldier, which includes performance videos about the love between Patty and Anton and even rap songs about Hitler.
In 2011, three years after the death of Dr. Donald Greene, her husband of fifty years, Bette discovered a manuscript for a book series long-forgotten in her computer titled Verbal Karate. She trademarked the title and earmarked a percentage of the book’s income for the Phoebe Prince Anti-Bullying Foundation, and returned to her island home and writing sanctuary to begin the final edits of Verbal Karate.
As a twenty-first century master author with four decades of fans worldwide, Bette Greene uses electronic media platforms and social networks to reach out and embrace her readers.
Bette Greene and her mother, Sadie (far left), organizer of the townspeople of Parkin, Arkansas, answering the nationwide call for scrap metal destined to become ammo for the war effort in 1942.
Bette (far right, wearing cowboy boots) next to her mother, Sadie, and across from her father, Arthur, “the best-dressed man in Parkin,” in their store, Evensky’s Dry Goods, in 1941. Evensky’s Dry Goods was the inspiration for the Bergen Department Store, the epicenter of Summer of My German Soldier, where Patty meets Anton.
Bette (right), age eight, with her younger sister, Marcia, and mother, Sadie, in their victory garden outside their home in Parkin, Arkansas.
Bette’s 1954 Alliance Français student ID card. Her time in Paris served as inspiration for her book Morning Is a Long Time Coming, the sequel to Summer of My German Soldier.
Bette Greene at age eighteen in Paris, France. This portrait was taken by her lover, French photographer Roger LeGrand, who would later serve as Bette’s inspiration for the character Roger, a freelance photographer—and Patty Bergen’s lover—in Morning Is a Long Time Coming.
Newlyweds Dr. and Mrs. Donald Sumner Greene cutting their wedding cake on June 14, 1959, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bette Greene with Dr. William St. John and Massachusetts governor John Volpe, who is signing the Commonwealth’s Mental Health Bill, in 1960. Bette helped write and edit the text of the bill with Massachusetts lawmakers.
Bette holding her first child, Carla, at their house in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1964.
The Greene family at their home in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1975. From left to right: husband Donald, Bette, son Jordan, and daughter Carla. It was in this home that Bette wrote the groundbreaking Summer of My German Soldier.
Bette during a visit to Los Arboles Middle School in Marina, California, in 1988. Bette made many of these school visits, talking to students about writing and challenging them, as she often does in her books, to “speak their truth.”
Bette signing copies of The Drowning of Stephan Jones at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Conference in 1991. The book, based on the true story of the murder of Charlie Howard in Bangor, Maine, in 1984, went on to join Summer of My German Soldier on the ALA list of Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2001.
Bette at the Dewey Boatyard in Culebra, Puerto Rico, where she lives part-time in her island home. Here, she joins the locals in calling for government aid after the destruction caused by Hurricane Earl in 2010.
Bette editing a new book series on her iPad in her garden in Boston, Massachusetts, with her cat, Polly Ester, in 2011.
Bette Greene with her collection of the original paintings and drawings created as covers for her award-winning books. This portrait was taken by friend and American master photographer Steve Dunwell.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1978 by Bette Greene cover design by Georgia Morrissey 978-1-4532-2584-4
This edition published in 2011 by Open Road Integrated Media
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New York, NY 10014
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Bette Greene, Morning Is a Long Time Coming
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