Cassandra Foster has worked extensively in the computer industry.  Foster holds Ph.D. and MS degrees in computational linguistics from Georgetown University as well as a BA from Howard University.  She lives in Washington DC where she enjoys her grandchildren and children.  She also enjoys tournament duplicate bridge.  Her books for juveniles were funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Below Cassandra describes her books:

"My books for juveniles consist of creative nonfiction and fictionalizations of incidents in the lives of African Americans. For example, the stories are based on fact, but an occasional name is changed, or a picture is from a different generation. Both the stories and the art work feature African American youth as the focus. One goal is for the readers to identify with the characters in the stories and to be inspired by them. The stories also have appeal to other ethnic groups. The stories are sometimes inspirational but always fun.

The language style in the stories is clear and simple to make the stories both easy to understand and interesting. The stories should appeal to readers in grades 6 and up, but readers as young as 9 will often enjoy the stories. African American youth quickly outgrow fantasy-focused literature. These stories feature feet-firmly-on-the-ground reality with messages that are easy to interpret. The short story format makes it easy to digest the stories in small spurts. Hopefully, this approach will help instill a joy of reading in the youths"

Who Are These People: A Story about Bridge Players in the Washington Bridge Unit
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Paperback: 196 pages
Publisher: Mildred C. Smith (June 29, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 097786412X
ISBN-13: 978-0977864126
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches

This book contains stories about African American men and women. They all turned at least 80 years old by May 1, 2008. They have in common membership in a duplicate bridge club the Washington Bridge Unit where they play the card game bridge. The book contains several stories, with one story for each subject or married couple. The stories are based on taped interviews of the subjects made between May 1, 2007 and May 16, 2008. To help with the time perspective, the date of the interview is at the end of each story. The location point of view is Washington, DC. The stories in the book tell about the lives of the subjects when and where they were born, where they grew up, their careers, their families, their struggles, and their philosophies of life. There are pictures of the subjects.

The stories include how bridge was introduced into their lives and how they came to be members of the Washington Bridge Unit. Keeping with the bridge tradition, these stories discuss the subjects using their first names. These people are the trailblazers. They have worked hard. You will find that most of these persons are still active in competitive tournament bridge. Most are currently church members, and most are still quite active in the church. Many are voracious readers, travel extensively, and have other hobbies. They appear youthful and healthy. They are close to their families. They are lively, insightful, and accomplished African American men and women. They have lived life in these United States and survived. They are enjoying life. So much inspiration and good advice in one place!

Do You Know Us? A Collection of Short Stories
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Perfect Paperback: 43 pages
Publisher: Mildred C. Smith; 1 edition (April 19, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977864111
ISBN-13: 978-0977864119
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches

First! Second! Third…!

Living in a house with six children could get really wild at times. Taking turns to do things raised issues. For example, everybody wanted to be the first to read the daily newspaper. You can believe it was not to get news about whatever was on the front page! You guessed it. Every one of us six kids wanted to be the first to read the funny papers (comics). In the beginning the one who read the funnies first was the one who got up early and waited at the door or even on the porch for the paperboy.

Somehow the practice of being the first to get the paper to insure reading it first got sidetracked. Do not ask me how that happened. But someone would announce on the day before, "First to read the paper tomorrow!" Someone else would yell, "Second!" and so on. You were out of luck if you were not there to shout your turn.

Another practice we had was betting money on some insignificant childish thing. At first the bets were for pennies and other small amounts. Then, in order to show how strongly one of us felt about her or his position, the bets got increasingly larger. The strongest bet was for ONE MILLION dollars. We did not have money for even the small bets, so there was a perpetual tab. I remember worrying that when I grew up I would have to pay one million dollars to a sister or brother.

Our mother worked hard at trying to encourage us to be fair. Despite that, things could still get out of hand. I remember that when our oldest brother, Big Bro, was a young teenager, he would hog the phone. He would sit on that phone all night long, it seemed. I would imagine that all these desirable persons were trying to reach me on the phone. Big Bro would also hog the food. If you were not at home at dinnertime and the food was particularly good, he would eat part of your share. The lesson from all of this was: in such a large family you had to be present to protect your rights!

A Good Story: A Collection of Short Short Stories
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Perfect Paperback: 37 pages
Publisher: Mildred C. Smith; 2 edition (September 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977864103
ISBN-13: 978-0977864102
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches

A Good Story offers stories that are fictionalizations of incidents in the ordinary lives of real African Americans. Youth will enjoy these stories and learn about mundane, everyday, aspects of the lives of African Americans. Most of the stories are just fun and funny. A few are inspirational. The stories appeal especially to those who are nine years old and older, including adults. Readers identify with the people in the stories and are inspired by them. That makes the stories all the more interesting, and that encourages youths to read more and more.