Professor wins young adult fiction prize
A work of young adult fiction that focuses on a teenager with Asperger Syndrome has won a U of S professor the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award for 2012.
By Colleen MacPherson
Beverley Brenna, an assistant professor of curriculum studies in the College of Education, will travel to Miami Beach, Fl. to receive the award for her book Waiting for No One. The second in a three-book series, Waiting for No One continues the story of Taylor Jane Simon, a 19-year-old with Asperger Syndrome who lives in Saskatoon and, in the book, is enrolled in a biology class at the U of S. For Brenna, writing the novels is an opportunity to fill a void in young adult fiction, that void being literature that features protagonists with special needs.The first book in the series is Wild Orchid, and the third book, to be published in 2012, is entitled The White Bicycle.
The Dolly Gray awards are presented by the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities. The awards recognize books for children, adolescents and young adults that portray individuals with developmental disabilities in authentic ways.