"The Little Known," by Janice Daugharty

"The Little Known" is now on several of the "best" lists at Amazon. When I started writing this story of a poor, little black boy named Knot, several years ago, I'd never heard of ebooks, never imagined videos called book trailers, so I'm fascinated with all the different mediums for viewing Knot's story of finding a sack of bank-robbed cash in an alley. At first, I thought Knot might immediately return the stolen money to the bank across the street, but no--Knot packed the sack in the basket of his cousin Lee's bicycle and rode away, back across the town of Valdosta to his Aunt Willie's house on Troupe Street. Then what? When asked by his family on the front porch, "What's  in the sack?" he calls out, "Books," knowing that nobody will bother his money--"Say books and nobody will touch the bag." Marge is his adoptive mother, so he thinks at the start of the story; she's an alcoholic who might drink up all of Knot's money if she finds out about it. What Knot really wants is for him and Marge to move in with Aunt Willie and her respectable family. But they can't until Marge "straightens up and quits drinking and cussing." Still, later, at home in the quarters of Statenvilled, Knot test Marge with an anonomously mailed one hundred dollar bill. Yep, she gets drunk and Knot knows for sure she cannot have money, and too if Knot tries to spend the money he'll get caught. And so the plot switchbacks from giving the money away or trying to keep it just in case Knot finds a way to buy himself a bicycle like his cousin Lee's.

I loved writing this story and I love seeing and promoting it online--something new for me. The book trailer on YouTube lends still another dimension to the story, thanks to my publishers BelleBridgeBooks. Thanks to all my friends and fans for making "The Little Known" a hit at Amazon. Now, if only Oprah will call! Janice Daugharty