Growing up with Independent Presses

Young teens are reading. Despite well-visited malls, high-impact adventure TV and movies, and hours and hours of Internet surfing, still, kids are reading. Some of this is purely escapist reading—time-out punishments, time hiding from dishwashing, simply time spent alone—and some is "gotta write a book report by Monday" reading. Whatever the cause, they're reading.

Independent presses know this niche, carved by the movers and shakers of the early adolescent world, and a world of strongly ethical characters emerges in both fiction and non-fiction. These true-to-life characters are making sense of the world around them; they offer teens advice on how to make wise decisions and right choices, and solutions to help with the often-frightful process of moving into adulthood.

Jonathon Scott Fuqua, an award-winning young-adult writer and teacher of writing and art, creates such a character in his story of Darby (Candlewick Press, April 2002). Darby is a nine-year-old in 1926 South Carolina who stirs up a racial hornet's nest by writing an article for the local newspaper about local racial injustice. Some adults, including the newspaper owner and Darby's father, are in agreement with the girl, and with the support of these strong adult role models, she presents a character of integrity and convictions who realistically withstands the prejudicial storm that swirls around her. Darby learns "that people don't change fast or easy and sometimes not at all."

Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low was another determined child; she grew up to form the Girl Scouts in 1912. In Juliette Low, Girl Scout Founder, originally written and published in 1951 by Helen Boyd Higgins and newly reissued with some editorial revisions as part of the Young Patriots Series (Patria Press, April 2002), we find a fictional biography of a young girl who believed that "There's not one thing I can't do that boys can." Spunky and determined, young Juliette was able to reach beyond the social limitations of females at the turn of the century and create a national organization that would influence the lives of millions of girls even today. Fine illustrations by Cathy Morrison enhance the appeal of this story.

Michael Sanders, author and history teacher in Beaver Springs, Pennsylvania, opens his book, Strange Tales of the Civil War (Burd Street Press, Spring 2002) with a story of Julia Taft Bayne, who visited Lincoln's White House with her younger brother, a friend of Tad Lincoln. Julia, a favorite of President and Mrs. Lincoln, was often invited to special events with the family. The author includes the story of how Julia and her mother supplied pins to fix the tear that President Lincoln had made in the U.S. flag, and how she and her father saw a white dove circle and land on the head of the Liberty Statue as it was being placed outside the Capitol.

Self-help and pop psychology books dominate adult bestseller lists, and young teens devour this genre for the same reasons adults do: to find out more about themselves. Julia DeVillers, former editorial director of a health education publishing company, has written Teen Girlfriends: Celebrating the Good Times, Getting Through the Hard Times (Wildcat Canyon Press, October 2001). Based on interviews with adolescent females, DeVillers identifies the strong power of girls supporting each other, with topics ranging from guys to emotions to family problems to body changes. This is a book that teen girls can read cover to cover, or zero in on special topics of interest, or browse the numerous "top five" lists sprinkled throughout the text.

Another non-fiction title in the self-help vein is My Crazy Life: How I Survived My Family (Annick Press, February 2002), a collection of interviews with ten young adults from troubled homes. The interviews were conducted and compiled by Allen Flaming and Kate Scowen, who both work helping young people in crisis. The stories and teens are real; the names are not. Each of the ten recalls life in "crazy" families with problems like divorce, alcoholism, abuse, and mental illness. The scenarios in this book effectively show young people how to cope and keep on with life, even when home is not supportive. Teens in similar situations will find the book especially helpful and comforting; any teen will find it reassuring.

Fiction stories about growing up also provide insight for young adult readers. Troon Harrison, a poet, teacher, and children's author, has written a sensitive story about fourteen-year-old Stella in Goodbye to Atlantis (Stoddart Kids Publishing, April 2002). Stella gets stuck with her father's girlfriend in Cornwall, England, where she learns that one of the legends about Atlantis places it off the Cornwall coast. The legend teaches to let go of the past, something that Stella has a hard time learning. This is a story of the pain of losing a mother, and dealing with a father's new girlfriend, and discovering that people are not always what they seem. The book also deals effectively with the very real growing-up problem of worrying about appearances rather than what's inside a person.

Another Atlantis-themed story is The Princesses of Atlantis, by Lisa Williams Kline, (Cricket Books, April 2002). Twelve-year-old Curly relates the story of herself and her best friend Arlene, intertwined with the story they create of "Lydia and Eva of doomed Atlantis." With sensitivity and wit, the author draws a clear picture of best friends maturing and drifting apart as they gather new friends and experiences. The story the friends create parallels their own lives, in the story of twin princesses destined to be sacrificed to Atlantis's rain god.

Southern-born educator Pansie Hart Flood has written a softhearted first novel about ten-year-old Sylvia in Sylvia & Miz Lula Maye (Carolrhoda Books, 2002). Sylvia moves with her mother to a new South Carolina town and anticipates a very lonely and boring summer—until she meets spunky one-hundred-year-old Miz Lula Maye. Told in first person, the story relates how much Sylvia learns and how much fun she can have with someone "so old." The ending (Lula's grandson is really Sylvia's father) is a bit contrived, but the story does help young girls view a strong child-adult relationship that helps so much with the growing-up process.

Staying abreast of the ever-changing desires of the young adult reader is a challenge that is made even more difficult by today's many technological enticements. Small and independent presses continue to be equal to that challenge, providing quality books that will keep teens choosing to read.