Keeping it Real but Not Raw

At Catholic Teen Books, we authors understand that our teens encounter the real world and all its worldly challenges and temptations. Even kids who have attended Catholic schools all their lives and have the best of parents as role models do. 

Like all teens, Catholic teens must cope with the pressures of growing up. They occasionally face issues like alcohol and drug use, dishonesty, premarital sex, pregnancy, physical abuse, you name it. If it's prevalent in society, they've seen it, have a close friend involved, or have experienced it themselves. 

Unfortunately, some of the books our teens pick up and read might celebrate or gloss over those issues that parents and family members wish would be addressed differently. Just as real, with characters making unwise choices, but presented so that teens can view them through Christ's teachings. Teens need to meet characters who reflect on their actions, suffer consequences, accept responsibility, and make positive changes, sometimes with the help of another who understands Christ's love. 

The novels and short story anthologies that appear on the Catholic Teen Books website deal with issues in ways that might leave more to the reader's imagination but still paint a realistic picture. Neither the characters' language nor actions are raw or graphic. A story does not need to shock or offend in order to convey reality. Our stories show that characters can make mistakes but gain spiritual guidance that gives them more options in making decisions, resulting in wiser choices. 

And that's as real as it gets. 

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About the author:

Cynthia writes for preteens and teens because she wants them to know how wonderful, powerful, and valuable God made them. Her novels employ hope and humor to address some of the serious issues young people encounter. She is the author of the Bird Face contemporary series, including 8 Notes to a Nobody, 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status, 6 Dates to Disaster, and 3 Things to Forget. The first volume, in its original title of Bird Face, won a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award.

Her first coming-of-age historical, The Other Side of Freedom, received numerous literary awards: Catholic Press Association (CPA) Book Awards for Children's Books, Third Place (2018), Children's Literary Classics Book Awards: Gold Winner for Upper Middle Grade in both General and Historical Fiction (2018), Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards: First Place for Outstanding Fiction, Children/Juvenile and Second Place for Fiction Book of the Year (2018), Next Generation Indie Book Awards: First Place for Children's/Juvenile Fiction and Grand Prize for Fiction (2018), Reader's Favorite Gold Medal for Children's/Pre-teen Coming-of-age (2018), and Purple Dragonfly Award First Place in e-books Historical Fiction (2019)!

Cynthia has contributed short stories to the award-winning Catholic Teen Books anthologies Secrets: Visible & Invisible, Gifts: Visible & Invisible, and Ashes: Visible & Invisible. Cynthia has been a member of Catholic Writers Guild since she first began to write fiction for teens. She has a passion for rescuing dogs and lives with her husband and several canines in the friendly South.