Ruth Doan MacDougall's "The Cheerleader"

In our second installment of our Granite State Stories series, we talk about our experiences growing up in New Hampshire through the pages of Ruth Doan MacDougall's coming of age novel, "The Cheerleader". The story follows Henrietta "Snowy" Snow, her gang of friends and their experiences as high school students in the small fictional town of Gunthwaite, New Hampshire in the 1950s. Snowy is wrapped up in all the things most teenagers are consumed by--classes, homework, clubs, sports, and of course, dating and sex. As we get a glimpse into Snowy's life and that of her friends, we are ushered into the 1950s through the popular music, movies, clothing styles and etiquette of the day, like going "parking" and boys "getting fresh". But even though the story takes place in a world very different from the one that came after the major social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, "The Cheerleader" is a classic story about growing up with universal themes that resonate today. We'll look at what it was like for teens in a small New Hampshire town a half a century ago, especially for girls, and see what has changed, and not changed for young adults today in the Granite State. Laura is joined by the author of "The Cheerleader", Ruth Doan MacDougall. Doan MacDougall grew up in New Hampshire and went to high school in Laconia, the place where the fictional Gunthwaite is based on. Also joining us is Dr. Ann V. Norton, Professor of English at Saint Anselm College, and Selma Naccach-Hoff, English Department Coordinator and Teacher at Central High School in Manchester.