R.L. Toalson

author, poet, dreamer, reader

The Colors of the Rain

Ten-year-old Paulie Sanders hates his name because it also belonged to his daddy-his daddy who killed a fellow white man and then crashed his car. With his mama unable to cope, Paulie and his sister, Charlie, move in with their Aunt Bee and attend a new elementary school. But it’s 1972, and this new school puts them right in the middle of the Houston School District’s war on desegregation.

Paulie soon begins to question everything. He hears his daddy’s crime was a race-related one; he killed a white man defending a black man, and when Paulie starts picking fights with a black boy at school, he must face his reasons for doing so. When dark family secrets are revealed, the way forward for everyone will change the way Paulie thinks about family forever.

R.L. Toalson Titles

L.R. Patton Titles

Rachel Toalson Titles

Things That Make Me Laugh: a List Poem

Things That Make Me Laugh: a List Poem

Things that make me laugh: Jokes created by my sons Watching my four-year-old accomplish something I didn’t know he was capable of Observing my sons roller blading out front Playing “Infected” when I’m it A beautifully tidy house My cat sleeping in the sink Watching...

What Keeps Books Alive: Re-reading Them

What Keeps Books Alive: Re-reading Them

My oldest son is on the third read-through of Rick Riordan’s entire list of books. He is, currently, obsessed with Greek mythology and mythology in general, and he reads physical books and audiobooks and reads them all again. And again. And again. I’ve heard it said,...

When My House is Quiet: an Inventory of Sounds

When My House is Quiet: an Inventory of Sounds

When my house is quiet, I hear the hum of vehicles on the highway the chirping of birds outside my window a dog barking in the canyon, as though his owner has just returned When my house is quiet, I hear the scratch of a pen against paper the bend of the page as it...

The Memories Books Hold: a Reflection

The Memories Books Hold: a Reflection

He’d just sat down to his lunch. I was finishing up something in the kitchen before I’d join him at the table, my daily lunch date with my youngest son. That morning we’d played a matching game, rammed a few cars together, sung a few songs, and now nap time was...

The Importance of Letting Kids Read What They Want

The Importance of Letting Kids Read What They Want

Kids have their own opinions about nearly everything. If you have ever given them a platform on which to share these opinions, you will often be surprised, and likely delighted, by their emphatic thoughts. They don’t always get a chance to exercise these opinions; so...

Revision Explained: A Question and Answer

Revision Explained: A Question and Answer

The other day my eight-year-old asked me an important question. His eyes were wide in that way he has when he’s been wondering something for a while. Finally, he said what was on his mind. “What does it mean to revise?” He’d likely heard me complaining, just a few...

The Importance of Remembering Your Purpose

The Importance of Remembering Your Purpose

The other day my husband and I were finishing dinner for our sons, and I, having come off a high from my current work in progress, which finally hit its sweet spot after two weeks of struggling, said, “I don’t know if I’ve said this recently, but I really, really love...

In a House Full of Children: a Poem

In a House Full of Children: a Poem

In a house full of children you’ll see clothes strewn all over the floor books left in random places, bookmarked by the arm of a couch or a sock or a thread they were braiding cats zipping in and out of rooms In a house full of children you’ll hear cascades of giggles...

Meet R.L. Toalson

Meet R.L. Toalson

R.L. Toalson’s favorite thing to write is fiction for kids of all ages, because not only is that kind of fiction her favorite kind to read, but writing it also promotes the joy of reading in others, which she says is one of the absolute best joys to have. She balances raising six rowdy young boys with putting pen to paper and considers it a miracle if she writes a passage that will still her boys for a few minutes.