From the Publisher
TOP PRISON-PARENT EDUCATOR SHEDS LIGHT ON THE PLIGHT OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS Renowned author and prison parent/family educator Jan Walker speaks out for children who cope with a parents prison term in her forthcoming book, AN INMATES DAUGHTER, which will be launched nationwide in March 2006 by Raven Publishing, Inc.
AN INMATES DAUGHTER (ISBN 0-9714161-9-2) is a fictional account of the reality faced by over 2 million American children with a parent in prison or jail. It chronicles the daily life of thirteen-year-old Jenna MacDonald in her struggles to fit in with "The Snoops," her schools racially mixed "in" group. This proves difficult when they ask probing questions about Jennas background. Jennas desire to be accepted clashes with her mothers rule to keep the incarceration a secret.
As the prison population rises, more children are being affected and more teachers meet such children in their classrooms. To date, one out of eight of the nations children has experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. In a situation that receives little support, inmates children, who have committed no crime, are made to feel the pain and stigma of having a prisoner in the family.
Jan Walker, trained in child and family studies, spent the last eighteen years of her teaching career as a correctional educator for adult felons in medium custody prisons. Her previous works include DANCING TO THE CONCERTINAS TUNE: A PRISON TEACHERS MEMOIR, and PARENTING FROM A DISTANCE, YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, recently reissued by Book Publishers Network. She developed extensive curricula for inmate students, received awards for contributions to correctional education, and continues to advocate for children of incarcerated parents
Raven Publishing, Inc. promotes the works of authors who share its mission of healing and support through fiction that addresses contemporary issues children face. The press is releasing AN INMATES DAUGHTER in an effort to increase awareness about the daily lives of children who have a parent in prison.
From the Author
What was the inspiration for An Inmates Daughter? Why did you write it? I taught parenting and family relationships classes to incarcerated parents, women and men, for eighteen years. In the 1980s I wrote a text for inmate students, PARENTING FROM A DISTANCE: YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, and talked with hundreds of inmate parents whose children suffered from separation from the incarcerated parent, and from the stigma associated with crime and prison. I wanted to speak for the children through the voice of one child whod lived with the reality of an incarcerated parent almost all her life.
Who would you say An Inmates Daughter is written for i.e. who will benefit from reading it and why?
I believe all preadolescents and young adolescents experience similar struggles with friendship and peer groups, the need to fit in, and some level of shame or embarrassment about their family of origin. They will identify with Jennas struggles and have a chance to see that parents with problems or who have done something considered "wrong" or "bad" can still be loving, thoughtful people. The book will also benefit all teachers, librarians, and parents who encounter children with such secrets. Good stories teach important lessons, open our eyes to others worlds, and leave us satisfied with how characters resolved some of their problems.
From the Inside Flap
On the first day of summer vacation between seventh and eighth grade, Jenna MacDonald does the dumbest thing ever. She jumps from the McNeil Island boat dock into the water to save a little girl from drowning. McNeil Island is a prison in the middle of Puget Sound. Its where Jennas dad lives, and she is there with her mother, brother, and grandparents for a visit. Her dad was recently transferred to the island, and Jenna, her mother and brother transferred too, to live with Jennas grandparents. Jenna has been trying to join The Snoops, her schools in-group. Theyre racially mixed. Shes part Native American. Though theyre really looking for an Hispanic, they are evaluating her. Jenna isnt permitted to tell her new friends that her dad is in prison. Its her mothers rule. Prison reflects on wives and children. Keeping the fact of prison secret becomes more difficult when the newspaper runs a story about a Good Samaritan rescue at the McNeil Island Corrections Center. No names are mentioned, but Jennas mother is furious. Jenna stays out of her mothers way, and collects the news clippings about the incident. She writes in her journal about her wish to tell the truth. Just as Jenna is forming a friendship with one of The Snoops, another learns about her dad and prison by snooping in Jennas room. The group leaders vote to exclude Jenna, but the forming friendship survives, and a new one begins when the former boyfriend of a Snoops leader reveals his real dad is in prison too. An Inmates Daughter is a fictional account of the reality faced by over 2 million American children with a parent in prison or jail. The children are doing time too.
From the Back Cover
On the first day of summer vacation between seventh and eighth grade, Jenna MacDonald does the dumbest thing ever. She jumps from the McNeil Island boat dock into the water to save a little girl from drowning. McNeil Island is a prison in the middle of Puget Sound. Its where Jennas dad lives, and she is there with her mother, brother, and grandparents for a visit.Her dad was recently transferred to the island, and Jenna, her mother and brother transferred too, to live with Jennas grandparents. Jenna has been trying to join The Snoops, her schools in-group. Theyre racially mixed. Shes part Native American. Though theyre really looking for an Hispanic, they are evaluating her.
Jenna isnt permitted to tell her new friends that her dad is in prison. Its her mothers rule. Prison reflects on wives and children. Keeping the fact of prison secret becomes more difficult when the newspaper runs a story about a Good Samaritan rescue at the McNeil Island Corrections Center. No names are mentioned, but Jennas mother is furious. Jenna stays out of her mothers way, and collects the news clippings about the incident. She writes in her journal about her wish to tell the truth. Just as Jenna is forming a friendship with one of The Snoops, another learns about her dad and prison by snooping in Jennas room. The group leaders vote to exclude Jenna, but the forming friendship survives, and a new one begins when the former boyfriend of a Snoops leader reveals his real dad is in prison too.
An Inmates Daughter is a fictional account of the reality faced by over 2 million American children with a parent in prison or jail. The children are doing time too.
About the Author
Jan Walker Biography Jan Walker, trained in child and family studies, is a former community college instructor who spent the last 18 years of her career teaching adult felons in maximum and medium custody prisons. She is the author of Dancing to the Concertinas Tune: A Prison Teachers Memoir (Northeastern University Press, June 2004), parenting and family books for inmate students, and training manuals for correctional educators. Her most popular book, Parenting From a Distance, Your Rights and Responsibilities, sold for over eighteen years, and was released in Spanish in the late 1990s to meet the needs of federal and state prisons. It will be reissued this summer. Walker has had short fiction and nonfiction works published, a middle-grade novel, An Inmates Daughter which is slated for release in early 2006, and has completed literary novels in settings ranging from the Pacific Northwest to Tonga in the South Pacific. Walker lives in Gig Harbor, Washington, where she is the current president of a writers association dedicated to fostering literacy and the writing craft for youth and adults. She is working on a history of family and place that includes the story of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.
