SOLVED. YA novel from around 2000, a generic 'family troubles' book, not fantasy or SF. [s]

[Lou]

It is borderline children's/YA, likely published between 1998 and 2000, but absolutely not later. Likely no earlier either, as it seemed new at the time. It was pushed on me by the school librarian in sixth grade, and I seem to remember her saying it was new. I remember little of the plot, beyond that an early chapter took place in a car. I think it was a generic 'family troubles' book. Probably no more than 200 pages, originally published in hardcover.

The most distinctive information I can give is the author was vice principal of Challenger Middle School in Colorado Springs (Academy District 20) in the year 2000, and it was her first novel. I tried to find her name online, but didn't have any luck, and I never got a yearbook or anything that might have the name in it. I THINK she was black, but I might be misremembering.

[SparksofEmber]

Have you tried emailing the school? If it helps, Challenger doesn't seem to have Vice Principals - looks like they have assistant principals.

[Lou]

Either I misremembered or they changed it. Whichever. I'll retry my search later. Thanks for the suggestion.

Haven't tried emailing them. It's a good idea, but probably wouldn't work for me, unfortunately. I have severe anxiety and the thought of emailing a stranger turns me into a quivering mess. Despite my meds. If I have a really good day sometime, I'll try it.

I'm mainly looking for suggestions -- like emailing the school -- on how I might find the author's name. I don't care so much about the book that I want anyone going to great lengths for it. Mainly it just niggles at the back of my brain.

[SparksofEmber]

I can email and ask. I'm terrified of calling strangers but emailing doesn't bother me. ;)


Edit: email sent to the school secretary. Wasn't sure who to email. School may be on break, too, so don't know if they are checking email...

[Sophie]

You could try looking for local authors in the area. I found this page:

http://ppld.org/local-authors

[SparksofEmber]

That's a great idea, Sophie. Lou, if you click on genre you can view children's, ya, etc. authors. In the mean time, I've heard back from the principal's secretary and she is doing some digging. :)

[Lou]

Wow. Thanks so much. I'll look at the library's local author list, but I doubt I'd recognize it, unfortunately.

[Lou]

She's not on there, unless she switched genres later on. I checked the more likely ones, but nothing looked promising.

[SparksofEmber]

I heard back from the school. She is still working on a title but she says the author would be Dr. Barbara Bailey.

I found several "Barbara Bailey"s on Goodreads who I suspect may be the same person. Here is a recent profile with a picture here

And I found this book, 192 pages, written about the right time that could possibly be it? (though this author may be a NIU graduate and the woman above is a graduate of Dallas Baptist...?)

Oh = this site merely says she is a middle school principal. this site

[Lou]

That's probably it, though I don't remember the civil rights angle. I don't remember a lot about the cover, but it fits with what I do; namely there was blue or purple on it.

The name sounds familiar, too.



Okay, I just looked at the kindle preview, and the style is right. There's also an early chapter in a car. I'm moving this to possibly solved until you hear from the school again, but I think this is it.

[Lou]

I'm calling this solved.