Author: Byron C. Taylor Sr.

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012-08-23

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1479702188

Introduction Depicted in the early 1990s in Bansfield, NY, this novel explores the controversial attitudes of the school district’s administrative powers and their approach on what to do about the education of pregnant teenage students. The time line spans from the fall semester through the spring semester, approximately eight months in the lives of the principal, students, parents, and the school bus driver at Parker High School, the school dedicated exclusively for pregnant teenage girls in the Alternative School For Educational Advancement program (ASFEA). When the ASFEA comes under severe scrutiny, Mrs. Bernese Thompson, the principal at Parker High, digs in deeply, to fight for the survival of the school and the students she is professionally and personally committed to support. After experiencing the previous year’s mayhem, she thoroughly believed that it prepared her for anything unexpected that could possible come her way. Never could Mrs. Thompson have suspected nor could she have been prepared for what lay ahead. There is much more beneath the surface at Parker High. Secrets have grown in the silence of denial that now propels impending storms. Amy, Hippie, and Mrs. Burrell, the school bus driver, have to let go of their reluctance to deal with the underlying problems beneath the surface, when an unexpected tragedy forces them to act. Even though faced with overwhelming responsibility and obstacles in their young lives, some of the girls never lose sight of their dreams, while others are stripped of their dreams and much more. There was never a dull moment on the school bus in usual circumstances, but the engaging, dramatic and enlightening sequence of events at the core of this story becomes a rite of passage for them all. However, there is a bright lining in the storm clouds when the strong winds have blown and finally cleared the air. Thankfully, something wonderfully transformative occurs, for at least, most of them.