Larry Dickens - Novelist & Mariner

Press Release - March 2004

Author dedicates young adult novel to Tyshaun Cauldwell.

New novel carries strong anti-drug and anti-child slavery messages.

Canandaigua, NY - - Author Larry Dickens's latest young adult novel Forever Ten deals with the subjects of drug violence and child slavery.  The book's messages tell young people to say "no" to drugs and violence, and that demand for drugs destroys.  It goes on to say that children have the right to play and be respected, and that kids have the right to be kids.  Written for everyone age 13 and older, Forever Ten will also serve as a remembrance for 10 year-old Tyshaun Lamar Cauldwell, an innocent victim of drug violence who lost his life in Rochester, NY in June 2001.  In an effort to help keep Tyshaun's memory alive, Dickens has dedicated the book to him.

The story is about an inner-city boy who runs away from his crime-ridden neighborhood and unexpectedly ends up in a horrible place where children are enslaved.  A fictionalized Tyshaun serves as the story's main character and hero.  Dickens spent many hours with family members and friends gathering anecdotes and details about Cauldwell in an effort to provide his novel's hero with some of the thoughtful 3rd grader's qualities.  Dickens began the novel in early 2001 and was moved to include the young boy in his book upon reading news reports about his death.  Cauldwell was struck down by a drug dealer's stray bullet a short distance from his home.  Knight Ridder News Service reports about youngsters being enslaved in the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa also strongly influenced the novel's development.

This is the author's third novel.  His first novel Mrs. McGillacuddy's Garden Party was recently selected by Canandaigua Elementary School as part of its 4th and 5th grade Community Reads Project program.

Forever Ten will be available in hardcover and paperback from 1st Books Library (1-888-280-7715 or www.1stbooks.com), Borders Books in Victor, the South Bristol Cultural Center, and the Finger Lakes Community College bookstore in late-March.  More information about the book and the author's upcoming presentations can be found on his web site www.LarryDickens.com.

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For additional information, contact Larry Dickens at sulindhill@aol.com.