Mary Peace Finley
Award-winning author of books for young people
The childhood biography of Ginetta Sagan, who in 1996 received the highest
civilian honor in the United States of America, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
honoring her lifelong work for human rights through Amnesty International, the
Aurora Foundation and her heroic acts as a young girl.
A dark, curly head with sparkling brown eyes peeked over the neighbor's rough rock wall. Cherries! Black
bingos, more delicious than the cherries at home. The young girl, Ginetta, and her friends scrambled
over. Ginetta climbed a tree. Laughing, she picked cherries and dropped them into her scarf, then passed
them down.
"The farmer here isn't very nice," one of her friends said.
"Oh, he's nice." Ginetta plucked another cherry. "He wouldn't like us to be here, but he won't catch us."
From below, dead silence. Her friends were gone.
"I'm glad you think I'm nice," the farmer grumbled. "But I'm not nice, and I've caught you. Now come
down, you little bandit!"
© Mary Peace Finley 2012
