Using Kate Brian's Private as Shared Reading

Moms and Their Daughters Can Bond Over This Popular Teen Book

Dec 22, 2008

Sharing a book gives moms and daughters a reason to talk, bond, and learn about each other. Reed Brennan is Every Girl, and moms and daughters can relate to her.

In Private Kate Brian has tapped into the "bad hair day" fantasy of every middle class teenage girl: escaping a frustrating hometown for for a new world at an exclusive private boarding school. Reed Brennan is the heroine of the Private series, and she attends Easton Academy, where her scholarship allows her a life of "studying, soccer, and secret make-out sessions."

The Private series is increasingly popular with girls because how easy it is to relate to Reed and her ordinary teen situations. Every girl borrows clothes from friends, although most girls aren't borrowing clothes from fashion models. Reed suffers common suffering; she studies, but worries about her grades. The stakes are higher for a scholarship student in a class where the grading scale has three letters: A, B, and F. Reed is fascinated by the popular Billings girls, and she enchanted by an interested senior, Thomas Pearson. Reed's life is a typical life, with just enough sparkle to make it seems more interesting than reality.

It is unlikely that most adult women would pick up Private; it is a quick, easy read, but it is clearly written for teenagers. Reading it brings back a lot of memories of being a teenager, because some experiences are universal: wondering if one should play sick to avoid facing social drama, worrying about who to eat lunch with, dreading the first break-up.

Reading Private also gives a window into some 21st century teen frustrations, such as getting personal text messages delivered to a friend's phone and having a boyfriend blog about secret relationships. Mothers can use these situations as conversational openings. "Does this really happen?" is a question that will probably be answered with stories that daughters would not normally think to share with their parents.

Because Private is an on-going series, mothers and daughters who share the books can find that they always have a springboard for conversation through the adventures of the characters. Some of the topics from the first book of the series include:

In Private, mothers and daughters can discuss events, and mothers can offer a parent's perspective on some of Reed's choices, particularly the cruelty of excluding her parents from Parents Day, affect her supportive father and her ill mother.

Private is a comfortable book to share. The book is an easy read, and there very few occasions of cursing. There are some sexual situations, but there are no Harlequin-worthy descriptions of passion. Reed is willing to be cruel to others, often without remorse, in order to be more popular. Mothers will have ample opportunities to discuss choices and consequences while sharing this book with their daughters.

Private (1416918736) is written by American author Kate Brian. It has been available in print since June 2006, and is available as a Kindle e-book. It is published by Simon Pulse.

The copyright of the article Using Kate Brian's Private as Shared Reading in Teen Culture is owned by Alex Sharp. Permission to republish Using Kate Brian's Private as Shared Reading in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.