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Velva Jean chafes under Sweet Ferns stringent discipline and misses her mother terribly, but she is comforted by her close relationship with her brother, the rebellious and charismatic Johnny Clay; her tentative friendship with the mysterious Wood Carver; and her innate and remarkable gift for song. Velva Jeans greatest wish growing up is to one day find herself onstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Gradually, though, her dream of stardom is replaced by her desire for the handsome and charming Harley Bright, a juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As she grows into a young woman, her volatile relationship with Harley dominates every aspect of her life, until all that survives of her aspirations remains hidden in the hat box she keeps tucked away in a closet. At the same time, she watches her small mountain community become fractured by the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway, as friends and neighbors take sides over whether the new road is a blight or a blessing. Velva Jean herself must decide whether its an incoming road, meant to tear apart life as she knows it, or if its an outgoing road one that will lead her to a better and more fulfilling life.Velva Jean Learns to Drive brings to life that part of Appalachia known as the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains and reveals how, in the mid-twentieth century, the construction of New Deal projects meant to revitalize America nearly destroyed some of its oldest communities. Simultaneously, it tells an inspiring coming-of-age story, in which a talented young woman begins to believe in herself and a destiny beyond her childhood home. ABOUT JENNIFER NIVENAuthor of Velva Jean Learns to DriveJennifer Niven lives in Los Angeles, where her film Velva Jean Learns to Drive won an Emmy Award and she received her MFA in screenwriting from the American Film Institute. Her first book, The Ice Master, was released in November 2000 and named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of the Year by Entertainment Weekly. A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writer, Jennifer has ten different publishers in ten separate countries, and the book has been translated into German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Danish, and Icelandic, among other languages. Jennifer and The Ice Master have appeared in Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Talk, Glamour, The New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times Book Review, The London Daily Mail, The London Times, and Writer's Digest, among others. Dateline NBC, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel have featured The Ice Master and Jennifer in hour-long documentaries, she and the book have appeared frequently on the BBC, and the book has been the subject of numerous German, Canadian, and British television documentaries. The Ice Master has been nominated for awards by the American Library Association and Book Sense, and received Italy's esteemed Gambrinus Giuseppe Mazzotti Prize for 2002. Jennifer's second book, Ada Blackjack an inspiring true story of the woman the press called "the female Robinson Crusoe" was released in November 2003, was a Book Sense Top Ten Pick, has been optioned for the movies, was recently translated into Chinese, and will soon be published in France and Estonia. Jennifers third book and first novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive (based on the Emmy Award-winning film of the same name), was released July 28, 2009 by Penguin-Plume and is already in its fourth printing. It was the Costco Book of the Month for August, and Publishers Weekly (in a starred review) called it a touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O'Connor and maybe a shot of Hank Williams. Her fourth book, a memoir The Aqua-Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town was published February 2010 by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, and has been optioned by Warner Brothers as a television series, which is being produced by Charlie Sheen's company. Jennifer is currently at work on her fifth book, Velva Jean Learns to Fly, a sequel to her first novel.With her mother, author Penelope Niven, Jennifer has conducted numerous seminars in writing and addressed audiences around the world. <br /> <img src="http://static.wix.com/media/8c7b7aca193ce4fdb6937d4c66b12155.wix_mp_128" alt="wrtlogo" /><img src="http://static.wix.com/media/c42a57226b242a9dc022b7b1d2848237.wix_mp_128" alt="Simple" /><br /> <p><strong>2010 BOOK SELECTION</strong></p><img src="http://static.wix.com/media/012bcfb67bbbc49383941fcf6ab206bc.wix_mp_128" alt="bookcover.jpg" /><br /> <p><strong>Discussion Guide</strong></p><a href="http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/velva_jean_learns_to_drive.html" target="_blank"><br /> <strong>Publisher's Reading Guide</strong></a>|<a href="http://vygotsky.ced.appstate.edu/lib5140/mooresville%20folders%20summer%202010/frazier,%20ann%20rita/vleva%20jean%20learn%20to%20drive%20webquest.htm" target="_blank"><br /> <strong>Velva Jean's Webquest</strong></a>
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