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Telling (Quality Paper)
Author: Marilyn Reynolds
Item Number: 5603X

$8.95
Number Ordered:10+	$8.50 each
Number Ordered:25+	$8.00 each

Introduction

;strong>Telling by Marilyn Reynolds was selected by the American Library Association as a Quick Pick for Young Adults.

When twelve-year-old Cassie is accosted and fondled by the father of the children for whom she babysits she feels dirty and confused.

"If I had read Cassie's story earlier, I think it would have helped me through a similar hard time. Telling can help."
Erin Reilly, 17

"A sad, frightening, ultimately hopeful, and definitely worthwhile purchase."
Booklist

FREE 1-page Study Guide on request.

Author

Marilyn Reynolds

Marilyn Reynolds
Author Website: www.marilynreynolds.com

Marilyn Reynolds is the author of seven young adult novels and a collection of short stories, all part of the "True-to-Life" from Hamilton High series. Her titles appear on a variety of American Library Association's "Best Books" lists, and are also found on the New York Public Library's lists of "Best Books for the Teen Age."

Drawing on decades of experience working with at-risk students in California alternative schools, Reynolds' takes on tough issues that permeate the lives of many of today's teens: abuse, teen pregnancy, racism, acquaintance rape, gay/lesbian harassment and bullying, school failure, sexual abstinence, and a myriad of other sub-issues.

What with the joys and demands of young children, and full-time teaching, Reynolds' writing was pretty much confined to grocery lists, to-do lists, and assignment sheets for student use. Then, on sabbatical earning a M.S. In Reading Education, she found time to take a Creative Writing class. A personal essay assignment turned into an op-ed piece that was published in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, proving to her that she could expand her writing genres beyond lists and assignments.

In addition to the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Reynolds' personal opinion essays have appeared in other national newspapers, such as the DALLAS MORNING NEWS, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, and the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Her work has also appeared in small literary magazines, professional journals, and anthologies.

Through her own reading, Reynolds' experienced laughter, insight, intellectual and emotional growth, and other indescribable benefits. She wanted her students also to receive such benefits. Hers would be the last English class ever for many of them. If she could send them on their way with the gift of a reading habit, they would leave with the gift of a lifetime. But after they read Go Ask Alice, and The Outsiders, and selected Judy Blume novels, then what? In an attempt to broaden her students' reading possibilities, Reynolds wrote Telling, the story of a twelve-year-old girl who was being molested by a neighbor. Seeing the responses of her students to this book encouraged Reynolds to write Detour for Emmy, the story of a girl who gets pregnant at the age of fifteen. Thus the "True-to-Life from Hamilton High" series was launched.

After a lifetime in southern California, Reynolds and her husband, Michael, now live in northern California, near Sacramento. She enjoys walks along the American River, movies, dinners out, and of course, reading. Her grandchildren and adult children keep her on her toes. She maintains a demanding exercise regimen in a desperate and futile attempt to counteract the ravages of time. She continues to work with at-risk students, and to solicit their help in keeping her stories realistic and believable.

Love Rules - her best friend a lesbian? Can they still be friends?

A NEW RELEASE!

"..the best YA novel I have read with a central character who is gay-all the characters are interesting and the issues are compelling."
--Kliatt

Detour for Emmy - A teen mother's story
AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
SOUTH CAROLINA YOUNG ADULT BOOK AWARD, 1995-1996
". . . honest, heart-wrenching, inspirational, informative."
--Kliatt

Too Soon for Jeff - A teen father's story
AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
"A thoughtful story for both young men and young women."
--Booklist

"Too Soon for Jeff" (An ABC Afterschool Special)
EMMY AWARD NOMINATION, Writing in a Children's Special
ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH, NANCY SUSAN REYNOLDS AWARD

Beyond Dreams (A collection of six short stories)
AN ALA SHORT TAKES SELECTION
". . . six stories about teens in crisis. . .Young adults will certainly identify with the characters and their problems. . ."
--Booklist

If You Loved Me - A teen's struggle with sexual abstinence
A NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, BEST BOOK FOR THE TEEN AGE
". . . informative and insightful, exploring difficult teen issues with honesty and a multi-faceted perspective."
--Booklist

Baby Help - The nightmare of teen partner abuse
A NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, BEST BOOK FOR THE TEEN AGE
"This is an excellent YA novel, with characters we care about."
--Kliatt

Telling - 12-year-old Cassie is molested by a trusted adult
AN ALA QUICK PICK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
"Reynolds has done a superb job of weaving the complexities of difficult issues into the life of an innocent child."
--School Library Journal

But What About Me - Portrays the horrors of acquaintance rape
A NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, BEST BOOK FOR THE TEEN AGE
"The characters are compelling...the writing superb."
-School Library Journal

READERS RESPOND:

"I'm one of those people that never read a whole book, until I came across Baby Help. That book inspired me."

"The struggles Emmy had to deal with made me sure I would not want to be in her position. I have decided to abstain from sex until marriage."

"Now I like to read books more than to watch movies because you showed me how much better it is."

"I just finished reading But What About Me and it was the most touching book I ever read. I'm a guy, but I can feel her."

"That book (Too Soon for Jeff) made me realize where my life was going, which was somewhere I didn't want it to go."

"Your book (Telling) helped me to understand some things I was going through. I learned how to not keep something inside of me an to tell my parents when something is wrong."

"I could relate to every one of the stories in Beyond Dreams, like they were about me or my friends."

"If You Loved Me" made me think about things in a new way."

"Thank you for turning me on to reading."

AUTHOR VISITS:

Marilyn Reynolds visits colleges, high schools and middle schools, as well as public libraries. Events are carefully structured to provide a meaningful experience for each particular audience. Her presentations may include slides, readings, group discussion, question-answer, and/or other activities.

The focus may be:
motivational--for reluctant readers
encouraging--for at-risk students whose lives are in turmoil
challenging--for advanced writers working on their craft

All presentations include a focus on the strength of the human spirit, the importance of reading for pleasure, and the necessity of listening to the inner voice which urges each of us, "Grow. Grow."

RESPONSES:

"Now everyone in our school is trying to borrow your books. I will always keep the books you signed for me. They are very special."

"She's for real. She knows what it's about."

"She inspired me to take my own writing seriously."

"Thank you for coming to our school. I have never finished a book before and now I've read four of yours."

WORKSHOPS:

In addition to decades of teaching experience, Reynolds holds a B.A. in English, an M.S. in Reading Education, and a K-12 Reading Specialist credential. With special emphasis on how to match students with activities that inspire reading and writing, Marilyn guides teachers through classroom-proven techniques that involve books, art, writing, individual studies, creative group activities, graphic organizers and more.

RESPONSES:

Using Young Adult Fiction with Pregnant and Parenting Teens - "The best workshop I've attended." "Wonderful! Inspiring!"

Teaching Tolerance Through Young Adult Fiction - "Very accessible, a delightful presenter." "She is excellent and so are her books."

Dealing with Reluctant Readers and Writers - "Specific techniques that are applicable to class-Bring her back!" "Very knowledgeable presenter."

Focus on Writers Conference - "The evaluations were uniformly excellent."

Author Talk on Censorship - "Enjoyable, humorous, and thought provoking." "Excellent! Great speaker." "I wasn't even close to falling asleep."

Marilyn's fee for presentations and workshops is $500.00 per day plus expenses for local visits. For visits that require travel of 100 miles or more, the fee is $800 for the first day, and $500.00 for each consecutive day, plus expenses. To arrange bookings, contact her at: 916-635-5995 or mmreynolds@earthlink.net .

Teaching Activites

I Like This Book Because It Happened to Me
By Charlotte Travis, Teacher, TeenAge Pregnancy Program, San Antonio ISD, San Antonio, Texas

Ed. Note: In a past PPT Express we asked how you use our books. Charlotte Travis responded with the following article.

"I like the book Telling because it happened to me." This is the response heard over and over again about a book that is difficult to keep in the classroom because its story of sexual abuse is so familiar to pregnant or parenting teens. Year after year, paper after paper telling of personal experiences - there must be a connection between sexual abuse and a decision to begin sexual activity earlier than the accepted norm.

Studies do show that over half of the students in a program for teen parents have experienced some type of sexual abuse. Yet, these programs tend to concentrate on the needed parenting skills. What they should also be emphasizing are activities that will help their students acknowledge the bad experiences in their lives so that they are able to move on.

Sexual abuse harms its victims physically, mentally, and socially. Only with professional help are these victims able to achieve a sense of wholeness. It is unrealistic to think that the majority of the victims who are in a classroom or community program will receive this type of help, so it is up to those who work with these teens to provide a comfortable setting that will help with the needed healing process.

A form of bibliotherapy can be used by the teachers and social workers who work with these victims. Bibliotherapy is a technique that uses the stories to help a victim focus on a problem that is not their own; gain some insight on how their feelings can be dealt with; and learn what else might be in store for them later in life.

The true bibliotherapy process has four steps:

1. The selection of materials that are appropriate for the teen's age and reading skills;
2. The characters in the story must be ones that the teen can identify with;
3. The teen must experience an emotional release that is expressed verbally or nonverbally;
4. The teen must be able to recognize themselves or others in their life in the story's characters which gives them the needed insight into how to solve their own problems.

Only a professional therapist can guide a victim through stages three and four. If a teen does experience some emotional release, relaxation techniques can be used in order to ease any tensions that have risen within the group. Bibliotherapy is different from the standard reading process in that the activities and questions must help the teen interpret why the character(s) acted or reacted as they did; the students must see the relationships between the characters in the story as well as the effects of their behavior on others. After the feelings of the characters are discussed the teen is asked how the story relates to her own life.

It must be noted that sometimes the selected story might not produce the desired results because the teen condemns the main character in the story, or the story has produced so much inner anxiety that the teen cannot identify with the characters and they will not participate in the bibliotherapy process.

If material in the selected story is dated, the discussion can also focus on the social values of different time periods. The bibliotherapy sessions can also be enhanced with information about abuse and its victims.

The most important messages the teacher can give over and over again during the bibliotherapy sessions is that the abuse is not the victim's fault, and if they have been a victim, they have also survived to this point and will continue to do so.

It is felt that through the selection of appropriate stories, programs will begin to help their students heal from scars of abuse.

Bibliography:
Pardeck, J. A. & Pardeck, J. J. (1984). Young People with Problems: A Guide to Bibliotherapy. Westport CT: Greenwood Press.
Reynolds, M. (1989) Telling. Altadena, CA: Peace Ventures Press. Available from Morning Glory Press.
________. (1993) Detour for Emmy. Buena Park, CA: Morning Glory Press.

Sample bibliotherapy sessions, based on the book Telling:
Session One: Based on Chapter 1, pages 1-8.

Focus: Identify the main character in the story and compare with the student's life.

Activity: (1) Have the students write what they did during this past summer vacation. Then compare their activities to those of Cassie. This comparison could then be shared with a partner. (2) Working in small groups the students develop a poem or rap about Cassie or another character in the book.

Closure: In a blank book students could write "Today I am . . ."

Session Three: Based on Chapter 3, pages 19-26.

Focus: Understand the effects of abuse on the victim.

Activities: (1) Examine the continued effects of the abuse on Cassie by a webbing. (2) Working in pairs the students can develop a crossword or rebus puzzle of all the emotions expressed in the story.

Closure: In a blank book have the students draw a circle, divide it into fourths, and in each fourth write a feeling the story gave them today. Then they pick one feeling and elaborate upon it.

Session Six based on Chapter 6, pages 47-55.

Focus: Look at the reactions of family members when the abuse is revealed.

Activity: Identify members in the group to write questions that could be asked of Cassie, her father, her mother, her Aunt Trudy, her Uncle Tom, and Lisa. Other members in the group can be identified to answer for these characters.

Closure: In a blank book have students write how they would react if their best friend told them about being abused.

Session Ten based on Chapter 12, pages 105-114.

Focus: Surviving as a victim of abuse.

Activities: Divide the group into thirds. One third is to write the story from Mandy's point of view; one third from Fred's point of view; and the last third from Cassie's mother's point of view.

Closure: In a blank book students can write "How I view Cassie's life. . . ."

Session Fourteen based on Chapter 16, pages 155-165.

Focus: Possible consequences for the perpetrator.

Activities: Have the group conduct a mock trial for Fred. Members can assume the role of the judge, lawyers, the victim, and the jury. Be sure to process the outcome of the trial with the group.

Closure: In a blank book students can write what they feel should happen to the perpetrator.

The same type of activities can also be done with Chapters 20 and 21 in Detour for Emmy , also by Marilyn Reynolds, except this time the emphasis is date rape.

Reviews

Telling By Marilyn Reynolds, 186 pp. $8.95. Free Study Guide on request. I believe this novel should be in every church, every junior high and high school library, teen mother program, and every English class - and it isn't even about teenage pregnancy!

Telling is the first person fictional account of Cassie, a twelve-year-old girl who is molested by the father of the children she babysits . . . a family she has grown to trust and love. She shares her bewilderment, her pain, and her feelings of knowing this is terribly wrong, yet not feeling she can tell anyone except her teenage cousin. She continues babysitting (partly because her mother, who has no idea anything is wrong, insists), and the two girls plot to keep Cassie from being alone with the molester.

Finally the secret is out, and the trauma of Cassie and her parents, and of the molester and his family, is portrayed. It's well written by an English teacher from a Los Angeles County continuation school, an author who obviously knows and cares a lot about teens.

With research showing that more than half of all teenage mothers report being sexually molested as children, this book fits securely into the important literature for this population - and for all teenagers. (Reprinted from NOAPP Network)

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 27 March, 2006.

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