A fascinating discussion on identity, punishment and prison reform yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the publication of seminal young adults’ thriller Looking for JJ, together with the release of its long-awaited sequel, Finding Jennifer Jones.
Award-winning author Anne Cassidy was guest of honour at a free event jointly hosted by independent charity The Reading Agency, her publishers Hot Key Books and children’s book distributors/publishers Scholastic UK. Joining her, and debating in front of an audience were her editor Emma Matthewson; teen literature expert Wendy Cooling MBE; Juliet Lyon OBE who is director of the Prison Reform Trust, and David Kendall who manages The Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge adult literacy work in prisons.
Published in 2004, winning the Booktrust Teenage Prize and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Book Award, Looking for JJ explores the circumstances and motives behind the shocking murder of a child ... by a child. Finding Jennifer Jones powerfully follows the now-adult murderer as she tries to pursue an ordinary life before her past catches up with her. It is a tense, emotional thriller about guilt, running away and wondering if you can ever truly know yourself, and both books proved ideal starting points for exploring how books and reading can be powerful teaching tools about key humanitarian issues.
The complexity of circumstances that can lead young people to offend; resulting in 'instant' actions that then set the course of their entire lives and which impact centrally on the control they have over their futures, along with how to reflect that truthfully, were central themes to the debate.
Anne Cassidy revealed that the Jamie Bulger murder case and popular media judgements on his two young killers had led her to write Looking for JJ. She also revealed that teenagers' subsequent comments on the bleakness and isolation facing JJ at the end of her first book had led her, in its sequel, to explore the possibility of a path which -- if not necessarily ending happily -- offered JJ a tiny element of control. Opening young people to chances for change and taking control, echoing real life initiatives such as restorative justice, were felt by the panel to be key elements in writing fiction for this age group.
This free event was held at central London’s Free Word Centre, the home of The Reading Agency, and was part of its work with its partners from the publishing world to create successful and exciting events and activities for readers of all ages. The debate was followed by book signing by Anne Cassidy, and a drinks reception.
"It was so good to hear from people who work with young people in difficulties, and realise that what I have written intuitively is not out of line with their realities," reflected Anne Cassidy. "It was also heart warming to hear that the outlook today for young people who offend is better than when I began writing Looking for JJ."
"Crime doesn't come from nowhere," said Juliet Lyons. "Anne Cassidy has helped us to understand how young people can get into terrible trouble an, in Finding Jennifer Jones, how they can start to emerge again."
Launched in 2008, The Reading Agency’s annual, nationwide Six Book Challenge encourages less confident readers to develop a new reading habit and improve their skills at the same time. Participants are invited to pick six reads of their choice and complete a reading diary in order to receive incentives along the way and a certificate. The Six Book Challenge is increasingly being used as a key intervention in the battle against the UK’s literacy deficit: it has grown five fold over the past six years with 35,000 people across the UK taking part during 2013 via public libraries, colleges, workplaces, prisons, army education centres and other settings.
"We were delighted to work with Hot Key and Scholastic UK on this event," said Andrea Reece of The Reading Agency. "In the audience were people who read Looking for JJ when it was first published, together with people who were coming new to both books, but everyone took away important insights from what Anne Cassidy and the panel shared."
Hot Key editor Emma Matthewson; The Reading
Agency's David Kendall; Anne Cassidy; Juliet Lyon and Wendy Cooling.
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