Cat Glass

Is there anything more unfair than being blamed and attacked for something you didn't do and can't do anything about? The hue of your skin comes to mind. You don't have a choice about your skin. You come into the world with it. In Rough Ride to Runnymede, A Magna Carta Adventure, Tay is an orphan, born to a Syrian mother and an English father. His skin is brown. He is trying to hold his life together when King John plunders his home. I heard Tay when he spoke about being treated unfairly. I knew how being bullied feels. I know why "That's not fair!" is my cry and the cry of children around the world and the cry of adults, too. We know how Tay feels even if we don't share his skin tone because we know what it's like to be bullied, and we know how to love. (If anyone says you can't know how it feels, they are saying you don't know how to love.)

Thirteenth century England was a cruel and fabulous kingdom. Out of it stepped Tay, who came to me in a dream and told me the story of Rough Ride to Runnymede. I was thrilled to see him and his friends, Lucy and Archer, stick up for each other and work together as a team to defy a lawless bully. I was beyond excited to learn how Magna Carta helped to protect people from tyrannical overlords. And I was inspired when I saw how we can overcome corruption and evil with the Sword of the Spirit.

Did anything prepare me to write Tay's story? Perhaps graduating from Columbia University, NY, with a degree in Classical Greek, working as a community arts director in Oregon, publishing The Blaze of Distance, and editing books for Graphic Arts Center; certainly serving the homeless for seven years as a volunteer, practicing contemplative prayer, and co-writing and publishing Share the Inheritance, an exploration of rare gifts, with the Englishman I loved, then moving with him to his home in England.

I hope you love fair play, courage, and the Sword of the Spirit, too. They belong to you. "Be bold, be confident, be good!"

Rough Ride to Runnymede includes a History Chest. If you would like to see Lesson Plans, check out my website, authorcatglass.com. Thank you!