Wednesday, October 30, 2002
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Wednesday, October 30, 2002 |
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A new Casey book for a new audience By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
After Sept. 11, 2001, Peachtree City resident Margaret Ross wrote a book called "Casey and the Amazing, Giant Green Shirt." The book dealt with the power of labels and how they can be used for good and for harm. The book was aimed at elementary school students in an attempt to stop bullying before it starts. The origin for most bullying is name-calling. "Casey and the Amazing, Giant, Green Shirt" was very successful. Programs were launched in schools in Fayette and Cobb counties and both teachers and students reported a decrease in name-calling. The book was also offered for free to people in all branches of the military, including those stationed in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Germany. Now Casey is back in an entirely new story, "Casey and the Growing Spurt," aimed at an older crowd. Casey is now an eighth grader and is waiting for a growth spurt. He has been chosen to be the team captain for a project on "Patriotism on the Home Front." Most of his team gets along but for some reason they don't like the new kid, Edgar, and the project appears doomed to fail. The team learns to find out positive things about each other and the project gets back on the right track. In the second part of the story, Casey helps stop his friend, Violet, from being ruined by the middle school whisper wars. Each of the Casey stories clearly demonstrates to the reader how powerful words can be. They also give the reader advice on how to handle situations when name-calling and rumors start. Casey is an example of a good student, citizen and friend and emphasis is placed on family and patriotism. The lesson that Casey and the reader learn is that real growth happens on the inside. "Middle school teachers and counselors were asking me for a book for their students and when I asked what middle school students were facing, I heard stories about the whisper wars," said Ross. "For Casey to be able to help his friend through the whisper wars, he needed to be more mature, so the first story was necessary for Casey to grow." Ross's favorite part of the new book is the description of Casey and his grandfather going fishing on a foggy morning. "When you are growing up things are constantly changing and I just thought it was really nice that something stayed the same." Casey's grandfather has been a mentor to Casey in both books helping Casey along. Both books, and all books that Ross has planned for the future, will have flawed characters making hard decisions at different ages. After the success of the first book, Ross and her company, the Kamaron Foundation, received a thank you letter from the White House for their work in supporting literacy and military families. Profits from the new Casey book will support the educational work of the Kamaron Foundation, which includes Operation Pint Sized Patriot and the Casey Citizenship Exhibit at the National Museum of Patriotism. Fayette County schools have embraced Casey. Several buses throughout the county have adopted the positive label program and sport bumperstickers declaring "Only Positive Labels Allowed" and "Mobile Positive Word Zone." Rising Starr Middle School will be staging a play version of the new Casey book next month and Ross is busy writing the pay version of "Casey and the Amazing, Giant, Green Shirt." She is also writing the sequel to that book, which will be called "Casey and the See Through Head." No matter what age Casey is, he and the reader will learn some valuable lessons. |
