I am often asked by teachers to recommend one or more of my books for students who are learning English because they feel that their students would relate to my characters’ immigrant or immigrant family experiences. However, my usual books are not written with the ESL learner in mind and the syntax is hard for new readers. Therefore, I decided to write this novella, Training Days, specifically for teens and adults who are learning to read in English.
Training Days differs from my usual books in that I followed the Flesch-Kincaid scale for readability and made sure the sentences generally fall between 2-4 on the scale, which is considered ideal for adult learners of English literacy and ESL students.
I am proud to present Training Days as part of the Gemma Media Open Door Series intended to promote adult literacy.
About
When you are eleven years old, is there anything more humiliating, or bound to cause a fight, than shopping with your mother when your body is in full-throttle warp? Yes, there is: picking out the school-required underwear. And worse: your mother’s male co-worker shows up at the scene. And even worse: your brother wants to TALK about it at the dinner table.
Rites of passage are difficult for any young girl, and Jun-li Lin is no exception. The grown-ups in her life are completely unpredictable and probably out of control. She knows it will take detective work to figure out her family’s secrets and the reasons for their erratic actions. It’s up to her to find a way to bring the family together before everyone drifts apart.
Training to be an adult, Jun-li discovers, is hard work.
