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Beacon Street Girls
Positive Preteen Role Models
By Kelly Burgess
While the Beacon Street Girls are primarily wholesome young ladies who, ultimately, make the right choices, they're also faced in each book with dilemmas that test their character and their friendships. "The Beacon Street girls are good role models because they do have both strengths and weaknesses, just like the girls we're targeting," says Schwartz. "But at the end of the day, they do what's right, and that can be a blueprint for a young girl who's reading this to follow if she finds herself in a similar situation."
Each of the books addresses real-life situations that modern middle-school girls may find themselves in, including divorce, competition, being the "new kid," the clique culture, and, in Lake Rescue (B*tween Productions Inc., 2005), obesity. The authors' goals (each of the books is written by a collaborative of authors under the pseudonym Annie Bryant) are to provide moral guidance in a hip, fun package. For example, Lake Rescue aims for several morals: One is how to personally create a healthy lifestyle, and another is acceptance of and kindness toward others.
"Childhood obesity is a very real problem, but along with the increased focus on the problem, harassment has become a big issue," says Schwartz. "Even beyond obesity, kids who may look different are often teased or ignored. We went to eperts around the country to get some ideas for the best ways to deal with these types of situations and incorporated them into this book."