Katherine Tousant

A Lesson in Red Beans and Rice Katherine Tousant

"A Lesson in Red Beans and Rice" is a contemporary, high-concept novel about life's do's and don'ts as one struggles to make transition from being a child to becoming an adult. It boldly addresses the tough decision each individual has to make regarding when and how the invisible line separating the child from woman or man is crossed. Written in form of fiction, the book opens with a conversation between two lifelong-best friends, two sixteen-year-old girls, two weeks before their Junior Prom. In the conversation, there's a sharp division between them on when and how a first event should be shared. Marie, the carefree adventurous one, is convinced Junior Prom night is when they should become sexually active. Lisa, more serious, is set on them abstaining until marriage as they'd earlier pledged. Lisa looks on in surprise as Marie boldly proclaim, "If you really love him and he loves you; then, you owe it to each other to share your love. Humph! Girl, you'd better wise up and stop all that old timing stuff." In response, Lisa cocks her head to the side, echoes Marie's statements and asks, 'Old-timing stuff?' Since when do you call having good morals 'old-timing stuff,' my friend?" From those statements, the girls and the many other facinating characters introduced in the work speak openly and honestly about their hopes, fears and desires for love and happiness in a conversation revealing of every facet of the issue. The work traces the days of the weeks leading to Prom. Excitement and conflict is present on every page. The book shows a through analysis of solving conflicts between body, mind and spirit. It uniquely addresses many basic issues facing youth today. The readers will be able to share in the special events so common to all of us.