Perfect Family

Jerrie Preston Oughton, a Georgia native, grew up in North Carolina where she graduated from Broughton High School. The English teacher who inspired noted novelist and Duke University Professor, Reynolds Price, Armistead Maupin, and novelist Anne Tyler, also touched a chord deep within Oughton. Jerrie dedicated her first book, How The Stars Fell Into The Sky to Phyllis Peacock. After graduation from Meredith College, where she was chosen Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year, Oughton taught elementary school in Raleigh.Literary dreams for Oughton may have begun in Raleigh classrooms in the late 50's, but it took her tenacity to make it pay off almost 40 years later when she became a published author. The Magic Weaver of Rugs, her 2nd book was published spring of 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Co. and was also named by the National Council for Social Studies as one of the notable books of the year. Both picture books were featured in Smithsonian Magazine in their year-end celebration of the best in children's books. Oughton's first novel for young adults, Music from a Place Called Half Moon, takes place in the mountains of North Carolina. This novel won the 1995 Bank Street College Award for exceptional literature for young people and was nominated for the South Carolina Junior Book Award for 1997-98. The War In Georgia, Jerrie Oughton's second novel for young adults was honored by the American Library Association by being placed on the 1998 list of Recommended Books for Young Adults. Perfect Family, a novel of teen problems, is a favorite among teenage girls. A gripping story of teen love gone awry in the fifties, its subtle message is one of empowerment for young women in today's world.Oughton, Jerrie is the author of 'Perfect Family' with ISBN 9780395986684 and ISBN 0395986680.