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Best-selling young adult author Cherie Bennett is often asked: "How can you write a highbrow play and then write 'Trash'?"
The play in question is "Anne Frank & Me," about American teens and Holocaust denial, which Bennett recently wrote and directed off-Broadway, earning a rave review from "The New York Times."
"Trash," on the other hand, is Bennett's latest pop-fiction series for young adults. It's about a group of teenagers working as interns on a hip, teens-only talk show called "Trash," with such guests as teen children of serial murderers.
"I don't find a contradiction at all," says Bennett, who lives in Nashville. "Either way, I'm still writing about issues that kids care about on an emotional, visceral level. Hundreds of thousands of girls will read [my books] but never have the opportunity to see a play like 'Anne Frank & Me.' I think it's elitist to suggest that one should only be writing hardcover novels."
Bennett, in fact, has succeeded in many genres. Her paperback series include "Teen Angels," optioned by Universal as a TV series, and "Sunset Island," whose 41 books have sold three million copies. Next spring Delacorte will publish her first hardcover fiction, "Life in the Fat Lane."
Her plays also include "John Lennon & Me," which she describes as "about life, death, power, and first boyfriends," and "Sex and Rage in a Soho Loft," a "very adult one-act."As if that weren't enough, she also writes a syndicated newspaper advice column for teens called "Hey, Cherie!"
Asked about her amazing productivity, the high-energy Bennett says, "I think I just write fast."
"Whatever I write always has a moral and ethical underpinning," she explains. "I get many letters from rabbis, ministers and educators talking about how moral my books are. I manage to be moral without being preachy."
She pulls off this feat with aplomb in the new series. Yes, the books are definitely for teens (13 to 16 year olds) and mention sex from time to time. And yes, the talk show lives up to its name by being decidedly trashy. As one character explains, "People love the titillation. [The show's host] has this way of turning the worst of pop culture on its head, you know what I mean? And she's got that in-your-face I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-think thing, which they love on the college campuses. Face it, it's brilliant."
Not surprisingly, Bennett was inspired by watching television talk shows, which she often checks out in her constant search for story ideas. She particularly likes Oprah, but says she found it "ludicrous watching someone like Jenny Jones trying to defend her show. Give me a major break on that one."
Bennett began to imagine how fascinating the behind-the-scene environment must be, and came up with the idea of a for-teens show that "makes absolutely no profession to being anything other than crass." And since art imitates life and life imitates art, television executives are now seriously exploring the idea of creating such a show.
Let it be known that the six teen interns working on Bennett's fictional show loathe its tactics and approach. They find their TV bosses not only unkind but morally corrupt. No one is more upset than Chelsea Jennings, a serious girl who hopes to become a "60 Minutes"-style investigative reporter.
The "Trash" books are breezy, plot-driven books full of cliffhangers. While the characters have an edge and discuss mature topics, theyıre a good, loyal bunch of kids. Parents should read these books before dismissing or denouncing them. Teens, meanwhile, will no doubt devour them.
Bennett's books are in such high demand that their creator has had trouble keeping up the pace, so she's enlisted her husband, Jeff Gottesfeld, as a collaborator. He's a non-practicing lawyer and theater and film producer, and, as Bennett has discovered, "a very good writer."
"If someone had told me our collaboration would work," she admits, "I wouldn't have believed it. But even our editors can't tell who writes what. He knows my style really well."
Bennett stays in touch with teen ideas and concerns with the help of many teenage friends. Some have appeared in her plays, others write to her advice column, still more write her fan letters for her books. Bennett answers all of her mail and invites readers who come to Nashville to join her and Jeff for lunch. In fact, several years ago she invited a group of her favorite fans to attend her bat mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony for girls, which Bennett didn't have until she was an adult.
"I consider it a huge compliment from these kids, and a great honor for me," she says of the many friendships. "Lots of kids come over and hang out in our living room. And I listen to them. I really listen. I listen to what they say and how they say it. Since Jeff and I don't have children, they don't put me in the 'mom' category. . . . Sometimes it seems as if something weird happens to people's brains when they have kids. They turn into their own parents. They don't seem to remember what it's really like."
Luckily for millions of teenage readers, Cherie Bennett remembers exactly what it's like.
Alice Cary is an author and reviewer in Groton, Massachusetts.
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