A New Experiment

So, I've thought about this for awhile of how I am going to write this book, Newsie Girls. Here's what I would like to do. I am going to write this book right into this blog. Almost kinda like having an ebook that you normally buy on the internet. Instead, this book will be an ongoing book that readers can come and read. Not only that, but the blog can give the reader interaction with the book asking questions (even to the author, me!), playing games, and sharing thoughts and ideas with others.

This blog site is just a start. As the blog and the story grows, I expect it to become a regular website for young readers to have more options and choices in reading and interacting. I will also accept emails from readers with any questions or thoughts they may have and respond back personally. This will be an entirely new experiment for me and I'm looking forward to getting started!

Ann's Wisdom

(Here in this part of the story Sarah attends a deaf school with Ann but is mainstreamed in regular classes with hearing kids. Sarah comes home after her first day with hearing kids. )

Sarah stomped inside after Ann and slammed the front door shut. Holding back tears but couldn't hold the redness of her face, she ran upstairs and flew into her bed to cover her face as she cried. Ann knew for sure that Sarah's first day in mainstreamed classes didn't go so well.

"Sarah?," Ann tried to coax Sarah into facing her so she could sign. "Sarah, what's wrong?"

"Those kids are so mean!" she yelled.

"What kids? What did they do?"

"They made fun of me, kept pointing at my hearing aid and calling me names!"

"Sarah.."

"I hate them! They're mean and some of the teachers are mean too! AND I HATE THIS THING!"

Sarah pulled her hearing aid off and threw it across the bedroom smashing the plastic cover and ducked her face back into her bed.

"Sarah!"  Ann wasn't so angry with Sarah but shocked. She grabbed the hearing aid and inspected the damage. "This is going to cost a lot of money to replace." Ann sighed but understood how Sarah was feeling. Ann sat on the bed next to Sarah, "Sarah, I remember when you first got your hearing aid you were so excited. Tell me what happened."

Sarah sat up and signed to Ann, "The kids were making fun of me and told me that I must be stupid to have to have a hearing aid. They said my brain is broken and that I don't belong with them. The science teacher picks on me too." Sarah cried. Ann hugged Sarah trying to comfort her little sister.

"I see." Ann lifted Sarah's head to see her signs. "Sarah, you see my hearing aids all the time. Do you think my brain is broken?" Sarah stopped crying and wiped her eyes. "No."

"Do you think I am stupid?"

"No, you're smart. You always get good grades."

"Do you think I don't belong anywhere?"

"What do you mean? You can belong anywhere you want! Everyone likes you."

"And you can belong anywhere you want too. Are you afraid now that you're like me in this one way that we don't hear very well?"

"No, I'm not afraid."

"Then you listen to me. You're deaf and that is a part of your life but it doesn't have to mean that you are less than others. You owe it to yourself to do well and show others what you're capable of. Deaf or not, the world doesn't hand you life on a silver platter. Those other kids are just as lost as you are trying to figure out their lives and where they're going. They just have a leg up having hearing and a real mom and dad at home. Which means, Sarah, that you have to work doubly hard. You should be proud of who you are and how much you do."

Ann stood up and then knelt in front of Sarah. She lifted Sarah's head again.

"Sarah, you are so smart! You can do anything you want to do. Being deaf is not something that will hold you back. Only you will hold you back. If there's anyone that I have high hopes for to make it in this world, it's you. Now, I want you to dry your eyes and chin up. Come downstairs and help me with dinner."

Sarah smiled and hugged Ann. "Thanks Ann."  Sarah smile faded. "Ann, I wish mom would come out of her room."

"Me too, me too."

Here they are! The Newsie Girls.

I want to introduce to you to some incredible and amazing sisters.

The oldest of the sisters is Kelly. Because she's the oldest, she takes a large responsibility of leading the sisters. Sometimes that leads to resentment because sometimes the younger sisters don't understand. She's strong willed, objective, and loves a good competition. If Kelly wasn't doing some work, she was often with her cat as her cat brought her a lot of love and comfort.

The second sister is Ann. She has brown hair which makes her an odd ball in a family of tow headed girls. She is also deaf in both ears that require her to wear hearing aids. She still speaks but uses sign language from time to time. She had an instinct that allowed her to take care of others around her which she often did. Ann would often look after her younger sisters as any motherly figure would. Ann especially loved looking after babies and playing with younger kids. Ann is probably the most feminist girl in the family who cared very much how she looked and did everything with dignity.

Angie is my most favorite character of the Newsie Girls. She's the middle child and is certainly not one to sit in a corner and remain silent. No, no! Angie speaks her mind and means what she says. A tomboy at heart, she loved adventures and exploring. Angie is loyal to a fault but you never want to cross her path and Lord help you if you do.

Celeste is the most imaginative sister of the group. She loved to play pretend and fun games. She gets frustrated from time to time because she doesn't like being treated as "one of the youngest" but wants to be trusted to do more to help. She always wants to help others and feels bad when she can't.

Sarah is the baby of the family and often looked after by Ann. Sarah was also deaf and would often communicate to Ann in sign language. Sarah didn't always understand what was going on and had to trust her older sisters to make decisions often times which led to feeling frustrated and often impatient. Sarah, nonetheless, loved her older sisters and wanted to be with them.

There you are! The Newsie Girls. Each sister is a beautiful individual with defining characteristics that makes them each unique and interesting in their own way. I am so excited to share with you some of their many adventures as newsie girls and I hope you enjoy reading their stories.

Who are the Newsie Girls?

I believe in using the K.I.S.S method to almost everything I do. (keep it simple stupid) That includes my writing. The story is simple. It's about 5 girls who lost their home and everything they had in a fire after the youngest one was born. Their broken hearted dad was forced to send the girls to different homes for a time until he was able to bring the family back together. The older girls swore they were never going to be separated again.

After a few years, their mom pulled some nasty stunts that forced their dad to have to leave the home. This was bad because it was their dad who took care of the girls while their mom would stay in her room all day, everyday and heaven forbid that any of the girls should want any attention. The writing on the wall was very clear to the young girls and they had to do something fast if they were going to keep their promise to each other that they were never going to be separated again.

Their mom was neglectful and would not clean, shop for food, pay bills or make sure that the girls were well educated. So,what could a group of young girls ranging from ages 9 to 14 do to make sure that the state would not come and put them in separate foster homes? Newspaper routes of course! Five courageous young girls quickly learned to work, to cook, take care of each other and love each other. They would wake every morning at 4 am to deliver papers which covered a huge part of the area they lived with an average of over 100 newspapers delivered by each girl. They then would come home, get themselves ready for school. Two of the girls had to be ready for the school bus as they were hearing impaired. Manage to stay awake during school, then come home and work some more to do things that mothers would otherwise do. When pay time came, the newsie girls managed to plan out their money for food, laundry and whatever else was needed. Along the way, these newsie girls had quite a lot of adventures including dogs, neighbors, haunted houses and strangers.

Several years later, 3 of the girls were finally able to go live with their dad and the other 2 stayed with their mom and moved to another state. Even though they did finally did split up, the lessons learned by these young girls were never forgotten and in their story is great wisdom. No matter what back ground you come from, no matter how bad things can get, you still have a choice.

Welcome Newsie Girls!

      Thank you for stopping by! I am real excited about this blog site. For many years I had contemplated the idea of writing about Newsie Girls because this is based on me and my sisters when we were news carriers in Peoria, Illinois. I want to share with you some of the wonderful stories, adventures, trials and tribulations we were faced with. No worries dear sisters, nothing negative.

     I know that from the stories my sisters and I have to offer are filled with wisdom but I leave it the reader to think and discover the gems themselves. That is often how people learn; by thinking and discovering.

     With this website, I want to introduce to you some amazing girls (the best that I know ;) ) and as I write some stories about these amazing girls, I want to use this blog as a way to develop their characters. I hope you will join me in this great adventure and feel free to ask questions. Thank you so much again for stopping by!

Siska DeYoung