The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash by Milam McGraw Propst

Eleven-year-old Ociee Nash was born and raised on a farm in Abbeville, Mississippi in the late 19th century. A year after her mother died, when Ociee was only 9, she headed to Asheville, North Carolina to live with her Aunt Mamie. Her adventures there are recorded in "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street". Ociee came back home in "Ociee on Her Own" for her brother, Fred's wedding and now she's moving, with her father and her other brother Ben, to Memphis, Tennessee where Fred and his wife live.

Ociee Nash, like Pollyanna and Anne Shirley, has a knack for making people love her. Early in life Ociee learned that a person's appearance has nothing to do with their inner beauty and in her third book of adventures, she once again proves that a caring heart and a willingness to look beyond a person's outside, can break down walls and create friends.

The author has based these books on the life of her grandmother, the real Ociee Nash. Knowing that the books are a fictionalization of a real person's life brings added depths to the major events and lessons in Ociee's life. Though they're intended for an audience much younger than I, I thoroughly enjoyed reading them and would highly recommend them for children between the ages of 8 and 11. If I had a little girl, I know I'd encourage her to find Ociee Nash.