From The St. Petersburg Times By Holly Atkins Check out any local bookstore or library and you'll discover something really cool - shelves and shelves of books just for teen readers. Now, we know you're thinking, "Who has time to read these? I have to finish A Tale of Two Cities by Friday, and don't get me started on that stack of textbooks in my locker." But trust us: Read books written by the interesting young-adult authors we'll be interviewing each month, and you may begin to feel you'll make it through high school after all. For instance, take Mattie, the main character in Jennifer Donnelly's A Northern Light. No mother, a father who treats her as though she doesn't exist, and suddenly she finds herself in the middle of a young woman's mysterious death. Is it possible that the victim can help Mattie make a life-changing decision? Characters like Mattie help us find ways to deal with what life throws at us. In a recent e-mail interview, Ms. Donnelly talked about Mattie, A Northern Light and the so-whats of reading and writing. Atkins: Last year our Newspaper in Education series was titled "Reading Matters." This year, we're also focusing on reading. Why do you think reading (and writing) is so important? Donnelly: Reading is so important because words strung together in the right way are stories and stories are art and art - I believe - sustains us. Art reveals us to ourselves. It helps us understand our feelings, needs and motivations. It gives sense and meaning to our lives. Art also helps us connect with others. It breaks us out of the boundaries of our own experiences, of our own loneliness, and shows us that what we feel, others feel. What we value, others value. Who hasn't had the feeling of reading a good book, and thinking "Yes, I know this! I've felt this! This is me!" That is so amazing - to know that someone else feels what you're feeling, someone else knows your heart. Writing is so important because we all need to express what's inside ourselves, not just stand witness to what is inside others. We need to be heard and writing can give us that outlet. If I couldn't write, I think I'd explode. When I find a story, or one finds me, I'm just on fire to share it with someone else. It's like being 5 years old again, having to wait your turn in Show and Tell, ready to burst with the importance of your find, and your need to share it with others. Atkins: The approach you take with time in the novel is interesting - the way you alternate between the past (with one of Mattie's words for the day) and the present until they join together. Why did you choose to write the novel this way? Donnelly: I wanted Mattie's discovery of Grace's death to have the immediacy and impact of an event that occurs in the present, but I also wanted to show the reader Mattie's home and family life, and the struggles she has faced over the months leading up to her summer at the Glenmore. Juxtaposing the present with the recent past gave me a way to do justice to each thread of the story, then finally join them. Also, from a technical viewpoint, I think (hope!) that cutting back and forth between present and past works to sharpen the pacing and suspense. Atkins: Why did you include the real-life murder mystery involving Grace as part of the story line? Donnelly: It's because of Grace Brown that the character of Mattie was born and the book A Northern Light came into being. Growing up in the area, I had heard the story of Grace's murder as a child. When I got older, I started reading as much as I could about it, and came to feel very haunted by Grace. From her letters, I could see that she was a lovely, spirited young woman with a good heart, intelligence and a sense of humor, and I couldn't bear that her life had been ended simply because she had become an inconvenience to the father of her unborn child. I actually grieved for Grace - for a girl I'd never known, a girl long dead. And I dealt with those emotions of sorrow and anger as writers do - by writing. Grace's words give Mattie the courage and determination she needs to leave home and pursue her dream. As I worked on the story, I consoled myself with the notion that things have changed for the better, that in this day and age, Grace Brown wouldn't have died because she found herself pregnant and unwed and inconvenient. And then the Laci Peterson murder occurred. And the murders of other pregnant women received media attention. And a Maryland study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looking at pregnancy-associated mortality found that the leading cause of death in pregnant or recently pregnant women was homicide. These events and findings now make me wonder exactly how much things have changed. Atkins: Apart from being a wonderful story, I think there is so much to be learned from reading this book; different readers will take different things from it. What is one lesson you consider important? Donnelly: As a woman who's about to have her first child - a girl - I want young women to know their value and never, ever accept disrespectful treatment from anyone. The world can be a tough place for girls - learn to recognize the Chester Gillettes early on and be strong enough to show them the door. In the beginning of A Northern Light, Cook tells Fran - who has been sneaking out at night to meet a boy - to make that boy call on her proper or not at all. I want young women not to hope to be treated properly by everyone at all times everywhere, but to expect it. To demand it. And to get it. Because they deserve it. Atkins: Do you have any words of advice for young writers? Donnelly: Believe in that voice inside yourself. Be still and listen to it, and it will show you things and take you places you can't even imagine. Write. Write constantly. Write in your journal, write stories and poems, write for your school newspaper. View everything - a letter to your grandmother, an essay on your Bio exam, every e-mail you send - as an opportunity to sharpen your writing ability. Read constantly and read everything - from the classics to bestsellers to your local newspaper to the back of the Cheerios box. Don't laugh. Someone somewhere had to write about those little golden O's. They had to grab your attention, keep it, and get you to eat the darn things - all in a paragraph or two. How did she do it? What kind of voice did she use? What choices did she make? There's no better way to learn what good writing is than by spending time with good books. I couldn't afford to go to grad school or to join a workshop after I graduated from college, but I could afford to go the library and check out books. I could study with the likes of Dickinson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Joyce for free. When you read, you're not only absorbing the story, you're also seeing how published writers handle the tricky problems of pacing, narrative, tension and suspense. You're experiencing different styles and techniques. You're learning what works and, in some cases, what doesn't. You're building up a store of knowledge that will only help your own literary endeavors. Holly Atkins is a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Southside Fundamental Middle School in St. Petersburg. Copyright © 2006 Jennifer Donnelly