By Karen Hunter, BlackVoices.com
Mo'Nique has always been one to put it all out there -- from discussing her "open" marriage in a magazine article, to the recent revelation that she was molested by her own brother growing up. Considering that, readers should expect nothing less than truth and real-life stories in her latest venture, a series of novels that kicked off last month with Beacon Hills High.
Beacon Hills is the story of a thirteen-year-old F.A.T. (fabulous and thick) high school girl named Eboni who struggles not only with her weight, but also with fitting in when her family moves from the suburbs of Baltimore to Los Angeles, where everyone appears to be perfect. It is a book targeting the teen demographic because as Mo'Nique points out "they need some real stories that speak to them."
"I travel all over the country and going into the school system and hearing our babies have conversations, there wasn't anything that dealt with them and their issues," said Mo'Nique, who is committed producing three more teen novels with Sherri McGee McCovey, who was a writer on The Parkers.
"My book is entertaining and real. A lot of (books geared toward teens) things were fantasy out there. Eboni, that's me growing up. And all of her friends are real people that I grew up with."
There's Juan, who is gay and makes no apologies for it. Deb comes from a bi-racial family; she is both black and Jewish. Robin is white and has no desires at all to be or "act black."
"We had to hit every ethnic group, because that's the world we live in," said Mo'Nique. "More and more you see young people from different backgrounds interacting and being friends. And this book deals with their issues."
Does the book deal with more gritty issues, like the molestation that Mo'Nique recently revealed in her own life?
"You have to read it to find out," she chuckled. "But talking about my molestation was something I had to do. It happens, unfortunately, to so many little girls and little boys every single day. People keep asking me how could I come out and talk about what my brother did. Well my question is, 'How could I not?' I was basically walking around in prison for years keeping that secret. And I decided that I wasn't going to my grave in prison. It's because we don't talk about those things is why so many of us so damaged."
Mo'Nique plans to use her novels as a platform to get young people and all people thinking about their lives and making a difference.
"Not only is this book for young adults, it's for us too," she said. "We're nothing but kids with grown up faces. My book questions your character and your judgment. Even though Eboni is thirteen, somebody who is forty-three can pick up and learn from it, because I did."
1. THATS RIGHT MO... KEEP IT GROWN @ SEXY
SHELTON BURRUS at 2:40PM on Oct 10th 2008