I hesitated when it came time to choose a photo of myself for the dust jacket of A Young Girl’s Dream. I wanted my book to speak through the voices of its readers, its message their message. A mother reading to her daughter, a grandmother to her granddaughter, an aunt to her niece, a sister to a sister, a girl reading to herself or to another young girl, a father reading to his young daughter.
One day I was going through photos my mother had taken of me when I was very young; in one photo I am sitting in my highchair looking at a children’s book. It seemed just right. That photo now accompanies my bio on the jacket of A Young Girl’s Dream.
In the photo, the book I am looking at is Little Puppy. Those detectives among you could easily figure out my generation, but I ask you to be my messenger instead. Let the message to our young girls come from those closest to them. Our lives are made of so many components, so many parts of the whole of who we are, who we will become throughout a lifetime. Let A Young Girl’s Dream be my gift to you to share with the girls you love and who love you, all of us teaching them to love and believe in themselves.
From the heart,
Carla
A Young Girl’s Dream is dedicated to my mother, Dorothy.
The website for A Young Girl’s Dream is dedicated to my father, Carl, who never told me I could not do something because I was a girl. As I was growing up, his favorite line when I said, “I can’t,” was, “Take off the t and what does it spell?” I confess I rolled my eyes when I became a teenager. Now I say, “Thank you.”