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Friday, May 21, 2004 Spruce Creek senior completes 1st bookBy VICTORIA ALDRICH | News-Journal Staff Writer Helping hands can be gentle vessels of mercy or hard weapons that commit crimes to enforce acts of human decency and compassion. Tattooed hands grace the cover of 18-year-old Kristina Circelli's first novel, "The Helping Hands," about a fictional band of runaways who rescue abused children. A project she began in the seventh grade, its release May 15 by Publish America was especially sweet, coming a week before her graduation from Spruce Creek High School's International Baccalaureate program. Soon to enter the University of North Florida's honors program, she already is writing four other books on controversial topics, including abortion. In addition, an anti-drug painting she created will be featured in an upcoming art instruction manual written by an International Baccalaureate examiner. "I don't like traditional books like romances. I don't like things that are predictable," Circelli said, explaining that she prefers gnarly characters who display strength. "In the other books I have characters who are completely evil and others who I can't stand because they are complete wimps. The wimpy ones I can't stand, so something always happens to them. I really like evil characters so I guess I go against traditional plots where the good guy beats the bad guy." The plot of the novel is simple. The Helping Hands snatch victimized children from their homes or the street, leaving behind letters that reprimand the parents. Her favorite character is ringleader Melanie O'Conner, a recovering addict who eventually is convicted for kidnapping yet never repents for her actions. Graphic and incisive in depicting human weakness, Circelli wastes no space glamorizing or justifying their actions, which were hard at times to interpret, especially since she herself was not raised in an abusive home. "The characters just came to me, they were just what I wanted them to be," she said, explaining that she spent years researching topics related to child abuse and violence on television and in print. "It wasn't hard to imagine what could happen to a kid. Some of the things that happen, or the things they do, I based on people I know." She also made no moral judgements, which some other writers make, something she doesn't care for. "If I do, I don't do it on purpose. Obviously I'm writing it from my opinion, but I hate it when people preach, so I'm not going to do that in the book. "It was difficult to write because it made me angry what I was doing to a character. I don't even like kids, but I felt bad. It's fiction, but you don't want it to happen. The way I imagine it, he's a cute little kid," she said, referring to a 5-year-old who is beaten in one scene. "What I like about their gang is, no matter what happens, they always have each other's backs. I wanted them to have that 'all for one and one for all' thing." She hopes that others take notice of the prevalence of abuse in our society after reading the book, but she was surprised by feedback she received at a recent pre-release book signing. "It was kind of funny, because this one woman's interpretation was that Melanie was the epitome of good and evil, but then she said someone else was reading the book and she had to stop because she couldn't handle how incredibly evil Melanie's character was, with the drugs and the violence. You have to give it chance because Melanie grows up and leaves that. "I'm not sure the reality of it has sunk in yet, " she said of the years of work it took to see the book through to completion. "Some people thought it wouldn't get published and I wasn't going to stop until it was. It's kind of nice to look at all the people who said it couldn't be done and say 'Ha, I proved you wrong.' " HICI Special Report — Summer Reading: Challenges, Choices & Censorship |
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