Short Summary

What would you do if you discovered your mother gave you up for adoption to a wise and loving, Christian woman who happened to be married to a pedophile? What would you do with this truth as you also navigate the Jim Crow South as a young, black woman?

My name is Acasia Olson, and I am the author of The Book of Jo. The Book of Jo is my grandmother’s story and essentially a love letter to my Granny. I wrote this book because I became a mom 2.5 years ago and wanted to explore and unpack motherhood as it was passed down to me. I wanted to understand why and how my mom raised me the way she did, and the best place to start was with her mother, my Granny. But as I sat with my grandmother’s story and what she endured and overcame, I knew I wanted to honor her and all senior survivors of childhood sexual abuse by writing her story.

A Catch 22!

Jo is a precocious little girl who was adopted into the loving arms of Rosa, a God-fearing, older Black woman who can’t have children of her own. But Jo lives with the world of grand opposites. While her mother loves her sacrificially and unconditionally her dad commits horrible acts to her. Jo, who lives in Birmingham Alabama’s Jim Crow Era, must navigate the world of misogyny, racism and sexual abuse all while piecing together her identity and belonging.

Jo comes of age and becomes a young mother at the dawn of the Civil Rights Era in Birmingham, Alabama. Will she draw from the love and wisdom of her mother or crash under the waves of the pain and trauma that shape her world?

My hope is that, in reading this book, you will sit with your own generational stories. In this book, I hope to instill in you the same sort of passion and excitement that I have for women and mothers and, specifically, Black women who endured and raised children under exceedingly traumatic circumstances. Ultimately, I want you to see this book as a tool to help you tap into compassion and courage to heal any direct or intergenerational wounds that you have noticed in yourself and your own families.

In this book, you'll learn about Black Motherhood in the Jim Crow South and the effects of transgenerational trauma on parenting. You'll hear stories such as:

• The story of my Granny’s mom, who adopted and raised her as her own flesh and blood.
• The story of “Pandora’s Box,” a piece of furniture that hid an earth-shattering secret.
• The story of how my Granny bypassed a 5-year waiting list to become a nurse after dropping out of high school.

You will love this book if you are a mother or celebrate motherhood, miss sitting at your grandmother’s feet and listening to her stories, have southern roots, and/or can appreciate the sweet little phrases and colloquialisms found within Southern dialects.

The Book of Jo is a nonfiction book that speaks to families and women who want to look at motherhood, resilience, and healing from generational trauma in a new way.
 

The Book - The Book of Jo

The book is written in 3 parts.

Part 1 - Chapters 1 - 14 focus on Jo’s childhood, her adoption story, and her upbringing in a culture of sexual abuse and racial trauma.

Part 2 - Chapters 15 - 20 chronicle Jo’s journey into motherhood and marriage. We learn what she felt and knew about motherhood from her own upbringing as well as how she navigated love given her only example of fatherhood and husband in her dad.

Part 3 - The final few chapters detail Jo’s return to herself after faces a few reality checks. We learn about Jo as a working mom and, specifically, what she did to earn her LPN despite dropping out of high school when she became pregnant with her first child.

What We Need & What You Get

This book will be published with New Degree Press. I set up the pre-order tiers to help cover the costs for publishing my book. Money raised will go towards the following:

• The Editor I will work with to revise and publish my manuscript in August - October 2021.
• The Cover Design of my book. (The mockups you see currently are a placeholder!)
• The Layout Design for the interior of my book (physical copy, ebook formats).
• The Copyediting for my book to polish the grammar and spelling prior to publication.
• The Launch & Promotion Efforts for my book when I ultimately publish this Winter 2021.
• I am also offering some exclusive rewards for people who pre-order my book now:
  • You will receive a personally signed copy of my book when I publish and a handwritten thank-you note.
  • Your name will appear in the Acknowledgments section of my book (“with Special Thanks to”).
  • You will receive early access to the Introduction and some excerpts from my book, with the opportunity to review it and give me early feedback.
  • You will have the opportunity to be involved in selecting my final cover and title.
  • You will be invited to join my Author Community and get behind-the-scenes sneak peeks into the publishing process.

And much more!

Campaign Goals

• Tier 1: Hit $5,500 and the ebook/softcover editions get published (this is the minimum needed)
• Tier 2: Hit $6,500 and the book will get a hardcover edition
• Tier 3: Hit $8,500 and we’ll get an audiobook edition.
• TIER 4: Anything beyond Tier 3 allows me to translate this book into other languages and opens doors for additional, great opportunities to spread the messages within these pages.

The Author

Acasia Olson is on track to be the world’s most interesting woman by the age of 60. A military kid turned military spouse, now raising her own Navy babies, Acasia has lived in and visited over 22 countries and is on track to add another to her travel maven portfolio by the end of the year. In her past lives, she worked as a public health professional in the non-profit and government sectors, managed a federal budget, and served as an educational consultant for a children’s ministry overseas. When she’s not writing books and traveling the world, she’s busy trying to figure out how to take milestone pictures of her girls, Lavender and Laurel, who look more like blurs than humans on her camera phone.

Acasia has always had a book in her hand, as if it were her security blanket. A little bookworm out of the womb, Acasia has written all manner of things, some of which are in the blogosphere, and others may never see the light of day. She comes from a family of modern, self-appointed griots who enjoy oral tradition and storytelling. This is one of the reasons she felt compelled to write this story, so that her grandchildren’s children will know the courage of the women who paved the way.

For more information, you can connect with Acasia at:

acasia@rhymeswithacasia.com

On Instagram: @rhymeswith_acasia

 Facebook: Acasia Olson - Author 
 

 

International Preorders

For international preorders, please do the following:

Identify the perk that interests you, e.g. 1 or 2 paperbacks

Select the pink "Back it" button to "Make a contribution" for the same amount (this choice bypasses the shipping address page)

Use this form [Click Here for form] to share your mailing address, so I can calculate the international shipping costs and invoice you for that amount via PayPal/Venmo

Risks & Challenges

The biggest challenge with publishing a book is delivering the finished book to the backer, specifically my mailing of the book to you. I have eliminated this risk by building into the campaign the mailing and shipping costs of your signed copies to you within each pre-order tier.

The risk of delivering the pre-sale copies of my book is contingent on the publisher we use. I will be working closely with New Degree Press to make sure we get the earliest possible ship date of the signed book copy to you. We will keep all pre-sale backers up-to-date as my book hits each key milestone and publishes. You will know when the copies are expected to ship.

Other Ways You Can Help

Not everyone can support, but that doesn't mean you can't get something out of it!
I will reward the top 3 people who refer the most backers at the end of the campaign (30 days).

Here's how:

At the top of the campaign page, you will see the "share" buttons. Click on the "chain" icon to get a custom link just for you. (Note: DON'T use the URL in the browser window as it won't work to track referrals and you won't get credit . ;0) )

Copy that link and paste it on your social media, email it to a friend, or text a fellow book lover.

When someone clicks on that link and backs the book, you get 1 entry!