Jenna Bush’s Ana’s Story is designed to raise awareness of neglected children living in disease and poverty. The story is about an H.I.V.-positive 17-year-old single mother, Ana, whom Ms. Bush met in Panama.
Working as an intern for Unicef, the international children’s advocacy group, Ms. Bush’s job was to write case histories of poor children. Ana, holding her baby, stood up at a community meeting and said “We are survivors.” Ms. Bush, formerly a third-grade teacher in a Washington public charter school, was touched by Ana and other deprived children.
Describing how Ana was molested by her grandmother’s boyfriend, Ms. Bush writes, “He stank of alcohol and cigarettes. His eyes were wild, like those of pumas that lived in the jungles.”
Ms. Bush’s wants to use her platform as a presidential daughter to raise awareness of “children of exclusion.” She will donate all her profits to Unicef.
The book closes with a section entitled “How You Can Make a Difference,” aimed at inspiring teen readers to take action to help the poor and neglected. (The New York Times, 9/29/07)
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