Teen workload drives story by local author

"Head Above Water"

By S.L. Rottman

Peachtree, $14.95

Parents who haven't introduced their teen-aged readers to S.L. Rottman's books are missing the boat.

Rottman, a local teacher who now has written three books for teens, is still in her 20s - young enough to remember how hard it is, sometimes, to be an adolescent. The voices of her young characters ring true, and the stories are ones many youths can identify with.

In her first two books, "Hero" and "Rough Waters," her main characters were boys. Her publisher told her that girls will read "boy" books but boys won't read "girl" books. This time around, however, Rottman managed to convince them to feature a female protagonist.

In "Head Above Water," Skye Johnson, a junior in high school, is struggling with all the responsibilities in her life - she's a swim team member trying to make state while keeping up her grades, the younger sister of a brother with Down Syndrome, and main caretaker of a household where her father is long absent and her mother works two jobs.

(In real life, author Rottman does coach swimming.)

Skye's life is further complicated by the attentions of football star Mike Banner. She's flattered and surprised at his interest in her, and it makes her wish (not for the first time) that she weren't always in charge of her brother, nicknamed Sunny.

Soon, life becomes overwhelming for Skye and she starts to cut corners - which sometimes means lying to her mom or getting angry with her brother. Many teens can identify with Skye's heavy load which, unfortunately, isn't all that uncommon today.

When Mike starts demanding a more physical relationship than Skye is interested in having, things get even dicier.

How Skye solves her problems - or how they are sometimes solved for her - makes for a story that many teens will appreciate.

It's not even bad reading for adults who have teen-agers. And it serves as a good reminder of what kinds of problems our kids deal with every day.

In recognition of Teen Read Week, local author Susan Rottman will sign copies of her books at 1 p.m. today at The Chinook Bookshop, 210 N. Tejon St. Then she'll meet her fans from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Fountain Branch Library, 501 E. Iowa St., Fountain; and from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the East Library and Information Center, 5550 N. Union Blvd. Autographed copies of her book will be sold at the library events. Call 531-6333, Exts. 1306 or 2324 for information.

Copyright 1999
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