Barbara Bailey Releases Young Adult Novel, CHANGING COURSE

Joan Williams, her parents, Kitty and Clarence, and her boyfriend, Chris, have taken the train to New York with the express purpose of seeing Vassar, where Joan had been accepted as a freshman in next fall's class. However, after looking deep into her heart, Joan realizes that there were other things she wanted to do first. She also does not want to miss her senior year at Hyde Park High School.

"Changing Course", a young adult novel written by author Barbara Bailey takes readers into the teenage life of Joan, an exceptionally intelligent teen who is surrounded by people who value just about everything above intelligence. Immediately after her graduation from elementary school, the family moves from Chicago's Westside to the Southside so that Joan can attend a good public high school and meet the right people.

This story takes place between April and August, the end of Joan's junior year and the summer before her senior year. Her parents wanted Joan to meet and go out with some of the nice boys from the "right families". But for Joan, there's so much she could never recover if she considers going to Vassar. She doesn't want to leave home yet. She thought she was ready, but she is not.

Joan thinks that she is trying so fast to get to some place, any place that would be better than where she currently is. But then she started thinking. What was the one constant in all of this? She realized she has been trying to become a person who people want to be around. She is focusing herself on a small group of people as though they were the ones to please. She let them take control over her life. She is not running anymore and will make her own decisions.

"Changing Course" captures the fun and the frustrations of being a smart girl in the changing 1960s. It is a feel good story and readers can easily relate to it as they follow Joan's discovery of herself and how she experiences teenage life with a sense of worth that transcends color and social obstacles.

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About the Author

Barbara Bailey is an author, conference presenter, educator, and world traveler. A former high school teacher, middle school principal, and adjunct English professor, she writes both fiction and non-fiction. Bailey has lived and taught in the United Sates, Europe, and Middle East. "Changing Course" is her second novel. Bailey is working on a third book in this current series. She lives in the Southwestern United States with her husband.

Changing Course * by Barbara Bailey
Publication Date: September 11, 2013
Trade Paperback; $15.99; 103 pages; 978-1-4836-8555-7
Trade Hardback; $24.99; 103 pages; 978-1-4836-8556-4
eBook; $3.99; 978-1-4836-8557-1

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For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit http://www.Xlibris.com. To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274.

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