Cassandra Foster

Cassandra Foster has worked extensively in the computer industry. Foster holds Ph.D. and MS degrees in computational linguistics from Georgetown University as well as a BA from Howard University. She lives in Washington DC where she enjoys her grandchildren and children. She also enjoys tournament duplicate bridge. Her books for juveniles were funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Below Cassandra describes her books:

"My books for juveniles consist of creative nonfiction and fictionalizations of incidents in the lives of African Americans. For example, the stories are based on fact, but an occasional name is changed, or a picture is from a different generation. Both the stories and the art work feature African American youth as the focus. One goal is for the readers to identify with the characters in the stories and to be inspired by them. The stories also have appeal to other ethnic groups. The stories are sometimes inspirational but always fun.

The language style in the stories is clear and simple to make the stories both easy to understand and interesting. The stories should appeal to readers in grades 6 and up, but readers as young as 9 will often enjoy the stories. African American youth quickly outgrow fantasy-focused literature. These stories feature feet-firmly-on-the-ground reality with messages that are easy to interpret. The short story format makes it easy to digest the stories in small spurts. Hopefully, this approach will help instill a joy of reading in the youths"