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I was born in the deep South, where many writers are grown along side the cotton and horses of that rich land, but I lived on Long Island most of my first years. It was after I moved to Berkeley, dragging along three small children, that I started to think about creating something more...
For awhile I managed to subsume most of my afterwork creativity into dance. I flitted from Scandinavian to Irish, to English step dancing, to Morris dance and sword. Having a short (or sometimes long) fling with each until finally settling on Morris and English short sword (Rapper) as my favorites.
Northern Renn faire was a hoot to participate in as was the Sidmouth International Dance festival.
After moving to Central California and marrying my love, my creativity has evolved even more, into more tangible forms: mosaics, stained glass, and finally, writing.
Reviewed by Tania Staley for Readers' Favorite
In Gwen Dandridge’s novel, The Stone Lions, history, mathematics, magic, and intrigue combine to create a fascinating read for preteens. Twelve year old Ara lives out her life under the watchful eye of Suleiman in the harem of her father’s palace, Alhambra. Ara’s life is far from unprivileged as a beloved daughter of the Sultan, but she dreams of greater challenges than those she has within the confines of the palace walls. When the Sufi mathemagician, Tahirah, whom her deceased mother once tutored under, arrives at the palace as a guest of honor, Ara sets her sights on learning all she can of the mystic magic of symmetry. Suleiman begrudgingly agrees to teach her, if only to keep her out of trouble, on the terms that she can find three examples of symmetry on her own. Her studies bring her more trouble than she could ever imagine when her explorations of the palace take her into the path of the dangerous wazir, her father’s adviser who has been acting very suspicious. When her actions cause Suleiman to fall under the wazir’s curse, Ara must save him by finding the symmetries of the palace that the wazir has corrupted. Time is running short, and the wazir continues to cause damage. Will Ara be able to stop the wazir in time?
Author Gwen Dandridge's The Stone Lions is a rare blend of education and entertainment. She has woven lessons on symmetry throughout the story in a way that is quite seamless. These lessons would be helpful for any youth learning geometry and patterns. The book also includes valuable cultural lessons on Muslim heritage that would be beneficial for history classrooms. Students will hardly realize they are learning because the interesting plot. Ara is a strong, tenacious, female youth that readers can admire and look up to. I highly recommend The Stone Lions and I hope to read more from Gwen Dandridge.
