Exit, Pursued by a Bear
Page 20
Josh Adams started going to the mat for this book in 2013. He gets stuff done. Also, he called me when I was 250 words from the end of the first draft and was very understanding when I said something like “I am really sorry, but I have to set the phone down and ignore you for a minute, because I literally have a paragraph and a half of this thing left to type.” I think it might have been our third phone call. He hung up on me.
And finally, there are three people without whom this book would not exist. One of them is me (because I wrote it), one of them is a local politician (see above re: very angry), and the third is Andrew Karre (at one point, the working title was “Is It Teen Enough For You Now?” [spoilers: it was not]). Thank you for e-mailing ten thousand times about Veronica Mars and Superburger and Cottage Traffic and Commencement, and for saying all those nice things about my first (published) kissing scene. Thank you even more for helping me push a book-shaped idea into a book-shaped book.
Exit, Pursued by a Bear was written at the Chapters Waterloo Starbucks in June of 2012, before I knew what I was doing, and edited two and a half years later, after I had (thankfully) learned a few things.
FURTHER UP AND FURTHER IN!
Author’s Note
It was very important to me that Hermione have an excellent support system in this book. Her parents, friends, teachers, coach, minister, and community rally around her. She receives the medical care she requires. The police are gracious and helpful.
This is not standard procedure. Many rape victims are isolated, unable to ask for the help they need, much less receive it. A small blessing is that there are many organizations, in both Canada and the US, that offer support to those who might otherwise be left on their own.
In Canada, we have the Kids’ Help Phone as a national phone number (1-800-668-6868), and website (http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/teens). In addition, each province has a website for the Attorney General, including links for Victim Services (Ontario’s looks like this: http://services.findhelp.ca/ovss/).
The United States has the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (http://www.nsvrc.org/organizations), and also the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, better known as RAINN (http://centers.rainn.org).
Finally, there is a good chance that somewhere in your life, there is a champion. She will be an older student. A teacher you have never had. The secretary. Someone else’s mother. But that person will have a car and she will make time for you, and she won’t judge or ask questions. Finding her might be hard; you might never have spoken to her before. If you’re lucky, she’ll find you. Trust her when she does, even if no one else has ever stood up for you. I gave Hermione a Polly, but I think Polly might be the least fictional person in the book.
About the Author
E. K. Johnston is the acclaimed author of four young adult novels, including A Thousand Nights and The Story of Owen, which the New York Times hailed as “a clever first step in the career of a novelist who, like her troubadour heroine, has many more songs to sing.” She lives in Southwestern Ontario.
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