Column by Kayla Day

Day is a sophomore public relations and political science major  and can be reached at kayla.day@drake.edu

Sarah Dessen is a name that many teenage girls recognize. Dessen writes, as I would describe, coming-of-age books for any situation from divorce to the death of a parent.

While the style of Dessen’s are all similar, each story offers a new perspective to a different issue that many teenage girls face. Dessen’s main message are circled around love, but not focused in the romantic way. Every story does contain a little bit of romance, nothing over the top, but appropriate for teenagers to read about. Her main focus is on growing up and becoming the person you are meant to be and how relationships and love play into that.

I got my first experience reading one of her books in eighth grade. From the moment I opened “Keeping the Moon,” I was hooked. Since reading my first Sarah Dessen book I have collected and reread all of them. Even in my dorm room, I have my entire Sarah Dessen book collection on display in a pile, ready for me to pick up and reread at any given moment.

Personally, my favorite Dessen novel is “What Happened to Goodbye.” This is Dessen’s most recent novel centered around Mclean, a young girl dealing with her parents divorce in her own way: creating new identities when she moves to a new town.

If you haven’t read any of Dessen’s books, I strongly suggest that you do. Sarah Dessen’s 11th novel “The Moon and More” will be out in June. The beauty of Dessen’s novels is how easy it is for the reader to connect to the characters of the books and take part in the character’s adventures right along side them.

I may be a little older than her target audience, but the language, stories and messages Dessen portrays in all of her novels is something that still apply to me even as I become an adult. I know I am not the only Dessen fan that has not been disappointed by any of her books; her stories are unique to Dessen’s writing style and are hard to duplicate.

If you are still wary about picking up a new book mid-semester, no worries, Dessen’s novels are the perfect summer reads (considering most of them are set during the summer), so make time, grab one and get sucked into the fictional worlds of Colby and Lakeview, you won’t regret it.