A Presidential Daughter Gears Up for the Next Chapter in Her Life

[kskiska]

Source: WP

Jenna Bush, author. The first twin completes her transformation from party girl to global activist this weekend when she starts the promotional rounds for her book, "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope."

Bush, 25, will appear Saturday at N.Y.C.'s BookExpo America, meeting with booksellers to spike sales and generate buzz. "Ana's Story" will be issued Oct. 2 with a huge first printing of 500,000 copies, and publisher HarperCollins will be handing out hundreds of copies of the book at the expo.

So, how'd she do? A peek at the 296-page advance manuscript shows a strong narrative as Bush traces the life of a 17-year-old Panamanian girl living with HIV-AIDS. The two met while Bush worked for UNICEF in Latin America. They became friends, and then the president's daughter spent six months interviewing Ana, her family and others. Her story unfolds like a novel: Ana's parents die after battling AIDS, she is molested by an acquaintance, falls in love with a boy also infected with HIV, and gives birth to a daughter at age 16.

How does Bush address such politically charged issues? In the back of the book, she urges readers to volunteer, educate themselves about sexually transmitted diseases (ideally abstinence, at the very least condoms) and recognize the signs of abuse.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002735_pf.html

[Nickster]

1. Where do people go to educate themselves about STDs Jenna?

No public education about it and gov't funding is denied to anyone/any group that teaches anything but abstinence.

[ramapo]

2. Who's the ghost writer?

We're not asked to believe that she actually wrote the book herself, are we?

[hippiechick]

5. LMAO ! That was my first thought!!!

She comes from a long line of peeps who co-opt other people's efforts as their own, what's to say she's fallen far from the tree?


:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

12. I bet Poppy and Babs paid for somebody to write it for her,

sort of as a graduation present or whatever.

[DrDan]

3. CONDOMS!!!!!

HEAVEN FORBID.

Can't have that . . . abstinence only. Lets not mention that word around here again.

[baldguy]

4. How about a tour of Beautiful Friendly Iraq?

[Waya]

6. Alrighty, then.............

.....maybe her next book could be on the, oh, let's say, the Iraq War? She could go over there for six months and interview people on how they cope with years of violence, the DU, the psychological effects, the physical injuries - I mean why wouldn't she? It's perfectly safe over there now - McCain said...........

[MetaTrope]

7. Now THAT is what I call exploitation

Capitalizing on human tragedy...it's a family hallmark. :eyes:

[Warpy]

8. If she's written anything remotely educational

about heterosexually transmitted HIV, then my hat's off to her. I don't care if she used ghost writers or if she's just stuck her name on somebody else's work. I know her name alone will sell this book to a lot of people who won't read any secular literature about HIV, and there are millions of them.

I was a nurse during the worst of the HIV epidemic in Boston. I saw too many good people die horribly, often women who didn't know their husbands were either cheating on them with men or abusing IV drugs.

HIV is an STD and it can happen to good Christians as well as heathen libertines. This book sounds like it should be a must read among conservatives.

[Book Lover]

9. Pretty early to generate buzz for a book pubbing in October

I mean, I don't work in trade, so I don't *know*, but this seems awfully early to start buzz for a book coming out so late in the season. Anyone in trade with insights?

[Captain Hilts]

10. 500,000 is a HUGE printing of a non-fiction book. Ludicrously so. nt

[racaulk]

11. Question: What will Jenna do with the profits from her book sales?

A. Donate them to HIV/AIDS research programs?

B. Use them to help educate people on STD's (as she supposedly urges her readers to do)?

C. Help finance programs that battle and educate others on sexual abuse?

D. Stick the profits in her personal bank account?

Considering who her relatives are, I would say D.

:mad:

[kskiska]

16. Mary Cheney bought a new house

with her advance from the book that no one bought.

[TexasLawyer]

17. or give the profits to Ana--

whose life story is being hijacked and marketed.

[Red1]

13. A Potential

good story, developed and packaged by your local righwinger
campaign manager for the advancement of people who don't really
give a shit.

[kestrel91316]

14. Who at HarperCollins is buddies with Poppy, I wonder?

[Dhalgren]

15. If this story is true, then maybe she isn't cut from the same mold.

It can happen, children do not have to be what their parents are, and a person can grow up and realized she needs to change her life. I am not making judgments about this until I see more. Maybe, just maybe, this young woman is going to do something positive with her life and if so, I say good. We'll see...

[SKKY]

18. "Jenna Tonic" wrote a book.

Yea right. Who REALLY wrote it?

[BonnieJW]

19. I think

the story is pure fiction and someone was hired to write it. There is no Ana, the only thing jenna knows how to do is get drunk with her sister, and she has probably never even read a book. I doubt if she can even color in the lines.

[ixion]

20. my bet is that it was ghost-written

you don't just sit down and knock out a 300 page book, even one where you don't really have to create the narrative. You have to write for several years before you mature enough as a writer to handle that kind of work. I've worked as a writer, and have many friends who are writers, so I'm speaking from first hand experience.