In From These Roots, Sandra E. McBride presents a collection of articles she has had published in The Express weekly newspaper here in her hometown area of Mechanicville/Stillwater/Schaghticoke and Halfmoon in Upstate New York. Likening life within our communities to the growth of a tree, she begins with the fascinating history which shows "the roots" of this area. She moves on to "the strong trunk" which represents the people who have had an amazing impact on her hometowns, a foundation of sorts which raises us up. In "branches reach out" she tells of those incidents and memorable occasions which show our spreading out to appreciate all that we experience. In "the leaves that grow", she depicts the members of our communities who have provided plenteous deeds with their efforts making this a great place to live.

In the "blossoms that go forth on the breeze", she has shown how in moving on from our own hometowns, we have experienced the wider world, and therein gained a new appreciation of all we have. In her epilogue, she speaks of special cherished memories of places and times she will forever hold dear in her heart.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a true "small town girl", Sandra E. McBride has lived her entire life in Mechanicville, New York within three miles of her birthplace. Always loving to write, she put the dream on hold when she married her high school sweetheart, Tom McBride, and joined him in operating his family's dairy farm. After rearing six children and giving up the everyday commitment to dairying, she worked for the Mechanicville Public Schools for another twenty years, but found time to pursue that dream of becoming a writer. She took courses from the Institute of Children's Literature, achieved some measure of success in publishing poetry and children's stories, including in Highlights for Children. She has won a number of awards for her stories and historic poetry and has been published in a number of magazines. In 2006, she began writing feature stories for her hometown weekly newspaper, The Express, and in thirteen years has published nearly one thousand articles and editorials. She also created a four year series of articles for The Express entitled "This Month in the Civil War".
From These Roots is her third collection of "the best of the Express", following A Hometown Is . . . in 2016 and Our Small Town World in 2017. She also published a middle grade children's novel of local history in the American Revolution with Finding Goliath and Fred in 2009, and two volumes of "people poetry" with Mist Upon the Pond in 2005 and Meadow Flowers in 2009.