Category: Yellow Watermelon

There are two things Georgia Author of the Year award-winner Ted Dunagan enjoys almost as much as writing. The first is presenting about his book, A Yellow Watermelon, to an interested audience, especially school children. The second is Southern cooking, especially when the menu includes corn bread and collard greens. He got a big helping of both on his recent visit to Savannah, Georgia, in connection with the Savannah Book Festival …

Ted Dunagan received the Georgia Author of the Year award in the Young Adult category for his debut novel, A Yellow Watermelon, in a ceremony held June 13 at the KSU Center in Kennesaw, Georgia. Katherine Mason, Assistant Professor of English Education at Kennesaw State University and lead judge of the Young Adult category said, “A Yellow Watermelon reveals the power of friendship and loyalty to overcome racial and economic prejudice in 1940s South Alabama. Told from twelve-year-old Ted Dillon’s point of view, the story is suspenseful and captivating, with authentic dialogue and engaging sentence variety.”

Walk into Annell Gordon’s middle school reading classroom, and this is what you will probably hear: “I want a book that’s fun!” or “What can I read now?” According to Ms. Gordon, students are constantly on the prowl for good reading material. Ted Dunagan’s novel A Yellow Watermelon, recently added as a listing by Renaissance Learning as an Accelerated Reader book, will fit the bill for any avid young booklovers, she says …

Eighth grade students at Wilson Hall Middle School were asked if they preferred the young adult novel A Yellow Watermelon by Ted Dunagan, read by the class in October, or To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which students recently finished reading. Many students chose A Yellow Watermelon, citing its simplicity and the fact that it is set in their own backyard. According to an article in The Clarke County Democrat, “Some liked Dunagan’s book because it was easier to read and it was about our own Clarke County” …

Ted Dunagan continues his successful book tour across the South, with engagements taking him to South Carolina, southern Alabama, and throughout Georgia. Ted speaks at schools and libraries about his highly praised debut novel A Yellow Watermelon and about the writing process. Darlington School Dean of Students Ken Wempe of Rome, Georgia, notes that “Ted Dunagan brings with him all the flavor and juice–as well as a few seeds of wisdom–that you would expect from an authentic Southern writer” …

NewSouth author Ted Dunagan enjoyed a visit with students from Darlington Middle School for the school’s second annual author visit day on August 22. Students read Ted’s debut novel A Yellow Watermelon for their required summer reading. Set in 1948, the young adult novel A Yellow Watermelon explores poverty and racial segregation through the eyes of two young boys, one black and one white, who bond while working in the cotton fields and go on to free their town from a corrupt businessman …