Free American Ace by Marilyn Nelson Page A

(instead, it was given to my younger brother, who told me years later that he gave it to some girl he liked in high school, whose name he no longer remembered). The ring takes on another life in this story. I did inherit my dad’s college yearbook. He went to Wilberforce. The yearbook also plays a part here.
    Many writers travel through a labyrinth of thinking to arrive at a story, a protagonist, and finally a book. My labyrinth led me to invent Connor Bianchini and his grandfather. I did not invent any of the facts Connor learns about the Tuskegee Airmen. That part of the story is true. And still amazing.

About the Author

M ARILYN N ELSON is a three-time National Book Award finalist, has won a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, several Coretta Scott King Honors, the Commander’s Award for Public Service from the Department of the Army, and several prestigious poetry awards, including the Poets’ Prize and the Robert Frost Medal. She has also received three honorary doctorates. She lives in eastern Connecticut.