THE PRICE OF SILENCE

New Cyber-Serial by Staci Stallings Takes on the Curse of the Silent Majority in Our Schools

AMARILLO, Tex., April, 2003—Anyone who says that growing up is easy either doesnt remember growing up or hasnt taken a good look at todays world. Teenagers today are confronted with real life" much earlier and much more forcefully than most of those whove already been there, done that."

Beginning May 23, 2003, Staci Stallings will give readers a vivid look into the world of teenagers trying to right a world thats been turned upside-down around them. Subscribers to Stallings online newsletter, On Our Journey Home" will receive two chapters a month of a new contemporary inspirational romance cyber-serial, The Price of Silence—A Journey from Fear to Courage."

This book actually began long before I started writing novels," Stallings said. Several young girls with their parents came to the private school where I was teaching. They were looking for an alternative to the school they were attending. That might not have raised red flags except that it was the end of March, and no one, especially good students, switches schools with only one six-weeks period to go.

When we started digging a little deeper, we found out that the middle school these students attended had been having a problem with gangs. The gang members would walk the halls and ‘tag people. Once you were ‘tagged, you were singled out to get jumped in the next 48-hours. Understandably, the parents were searching for other options," Stallings said.

By the time she quit teaching, Stallings had encountered school violence and how schools handle it first hand.

I had a gun brought to my classroom once toward the end of the school year. Although it was clear to me that the students involved should be expelled, it took far more effort than it should have because we had parents and even school board members vehemently questioning the expulsion," Stallings said. We lost several good students because they spoke up, but then they werent backed up at the upper levels of the administration. I really had to question what messages our kids were getting about who they can trust and who really cares about them when theres a problem."

The Price of Silence" centers on 17-year-old Robyn Lockhart who has been uprooted from her small town existence by a recently-divorced mother out to find herself." Robyn is thrust into a jam-packed school system, bereft of friends, family, and anyone else who might notice the turmoil she is about to confront. Just as she begins to make a few friends, Robyn becomes the focus of a school gang out to expand its scope. The more she fights back, the tighter the noose becomes around her life until Robyn is forced to learn the price that keeping quiet can cost.

This book is really a study in how easy it is to miss whats going on in another persons life—especially kids lives," Stallings said. I heard a quote once that said, if we treat everyone as if they are hurting and afraid, we will treat 80 percent of the people we meet correctly 80 percent of the time. I think thats right, and unfortunately in our fast-paced society, we miss whats really going on in our childrens lives. They dont talk. We dont listen. And bad things can happen when kids dont feel like they have a viable way to ask for help."

To subscribe and receive both the newsletter and The Price of Silence" absolutely free, go to www.stacistallings.com/newsletter.htm#Subscribe fill out the name and email address. Or to be extra sure that your subscription is seen, email staci_stallings@hotmail.com, write: Newsletter Subscription in the subject line. Include your email address and first and last names.

Reviews

…I enjoyed riding the emotional roller-coaster. ‘The Price of Silence is not only entertaining, it is thought provoking, bringing the issue of school violence, school bureaucracy and school safety into the open, where it can be addressed." --Kim Sunshine from Praise God Time

Background Information

Staci Stallings is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Texas Tech University with a major in journalism and dual minors in education and secretarial business.

Stallings now has two titles in print:

The Long Way Home"
Eternity"

Her article, 60 Years Headed to Forever" is featured in a compilation book by Kendall Bell called From the Heart: Stories of Love and Friendship."

A full biography can be accessed at: www.stacistallings.com/biography.htm

What Readers Said about the Last Cyber-Serial Silver Rain"

Every month I print off the pages and get out the Kleenex!" –Jenny Verkamp, Reader

I am a Staci Stallings addict. I have been a heavy user for four years now. I missed Chapters 9 & 10. Please send them as soon as possible!" --Marla Gales, Reader

For More Information

Visit www.stacistallings.com
Contact: staci_stallings@hotmail.com