Publisher: Warbranch Press*
Year: 1998
Author/Illustrator: Kate Salley Palmer
Reading Level: Grades K-5
ISBN: 0966711408

* First published 1991 by Simon & Schuster

A Gracious Plenty

This book is about Kate's great aunt May Ziegler, who received a master's degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1907 and taught educational psychology at the University of Georgia until the early 1950s. After retirement, May moved back to her native Orangeburg, SC, and Kate's family moved in with her for a few years. Kate's book warmly recalls many fond memories growing up with her sisters and with her very interesting great aunt.

Kate often draws upon her life to create her books. A Gracious Plenty was inspired by her real aunt May, and the book stands as a perfect example of how Kate can use "real" pictures to create her charming illustrations.

Kirkus Reviews
"Affectionate portrait of a person who once played a valuable role: the maiden great-aunt. Setting her reminiscence a generation or two ago, Palmer mentions what Great Aunt May didn't have (husband, children) before describing the home into which she wlecomes young relatives and her comfortable nature and pursuits."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Alone and childless, Great aunt May has everything as far as her great-nieces are concerned. As they count her blessings, sunny colored pencil drawings, fond and blurred as memory, highlight special details. Simple and slow-paced, A Gracious Plenty celebrates one version of the Good Life."

Horn Book
"The narrator fondly recalls two girls' memories of how their elderly great-aunt lived and her place in their childhood - more a family memoir than a story. The drawings. . . capture the expressions and energy of the tale."