Jersey City parents and their children can look forward to reading a new children’s book by a local teenage author. Nineteen-year-old Alyssa Pierce published her first book in July.
“Caroline and Rebecca: Rebecca Gets Into Trouble” is the story of two best friends living in sunny California, and what happens when Rebecca decides to extend her stay in the local park when it’s sunset, while Caroline does the right thing and goes home.
As the book describes it:
Caroline walked home while Rebecca stayed/
For another hour she played and played/
By then it was completely dark/
and Rebecca was the only one in the park.
The 20-page book is published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises based in Oklahoma. And, as one can imagine, it has a happy ending.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am happy to see my dream come true.” – Alyssa Pierce
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For Pierce, the book is a happy ending to a project that goes back to when she was 10 years old and she wrote the first draft of “Caroline and Rebecca” in two weeks.
Realizing a dream
“I wasn’t happy about it so I put it away,” Pierce said. “Then when I was 13, I looked at it again and that’s when I decided to re-write in rhyme, but I put it away again. When I was 17, I saw all of this had promise and revised it again.”
Pierce added, “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am happy to see my dream come true.”
Two years before the book’s publication, Pierce came across an article about Tate Publishing and sent the manuscript to them. They contacted her last summer to let know that they accepted her manuscript for publication, and a contract was signed.
Pierce is publicizing the book on her website and is doing signings at various locations, including most recently at Clearview Cinemas in Hoboken, where she works. She also holds down a work-study job at Rutgers-Newark, where she has a major in English and minor in journalism.
Stories my mother told me
So what inspired “Caroline and Rebecca?”
Pierce credits the dolls from her childhood, who shared the same names, and the imagination of her mother. She recalled her mom telling her bedtime stories when she was around 5, centering on the adventures of the two dolls – and then some.
“I didn’t know she was trying to teach me something, but I realize now that she was telling me about things like dealing with peer pressure, that it’s okay to be different,” Pierce said. “With the book, I put my own spin.”
But her mom’s stories about the two dolls influenced her beyond just planting the seed for a future book.
By the age of 10, Pierce was starting to write stories and poetry, and two of them were published in a national anthology collection. That success prompted her to start the first draft of “Caroline and Rebecca.”
Pierce also admits to having a “very visual” imagination and “likes to get lost in words.”
And she plans to exercise some more of her visual imagination. She hopes to expand “Caroline and Rebecca” into a series and is currently working on a young-adult novel.
Even with her busy schedule, she always finds time to write.
“As long as I feel creative, I will sit somewhere and start writing,” Pierce said.
To purchase the book (20 pgs., $7.99), go to www.alyssapierce.com.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.