By Matt Sheley/Daily News staff
  
MIDDLETOWN - The story of Maddie Hickman has been in Hannah R. Goodman's mind since she was 15.

Hickman is a typical high school sophomore. She has family problems, boyfriend problems, life-in-general problems. The way she deals with them and keeps it all together is what the story is all about.

It just took time to get Maddie's tale out there. But, like the main character in her first novel, "My Sister's Wedding," Goodman, 28, a Middletown High School English teacher, persisted and recently fulfilled a lifelong dream to publish a book.

"I hope if you're 15 or 25 or 105, that you'll get something out of the book," Goodman said. "I think no matter how old or young you are, there's something there for you."

Growing up in town, Goodman went to elementary school at what is now the Oliphant administration building, before moving on to Gaudet Middle School and then Middletown High.

Goodman said she never considered herself much of a student. Mathematics and science were always a struggle.

But Goodman said she always could write. While she would get by in her other subjects, writing was the way she expressed herself.

"When I got to Clark (University in Worcester, Mass.) I was diagnosed with a learning disability," Goodman said. "It's something where I can't get the thought in my head to paper in the same way, but once I learned strategies to deal with it, I started doing really well in all my subjects. It is truly ironic coming from someone who is now a teacher."

"Wedding" opens with a scene so many are familiar with: being part of an uncomfortable situation, whether it's a family get-together, party or, in this case, a wedding and not quite sure how to handle it.

The blue dress clings. It should hang. The ruffles droop. They should poof. The bright blue of the dress clashes with my late summer sunburn. I look like the American flag. Blue dress. Red skin. Blond hair. Not a good look.

I can't believe I have to wear this in public.

Looking back, such a scene seems sort of funny. But when you're there, it's as serious as a hungry Doberman, Goodman said

Through the course of the next 108 pages, Goodman takes readers into some touchy subjects - booze, sex and family problems - but keeps the subject matter unthreatening.

"I always wanted Maddie to do the right thing," Goodman said. "I've read a lot of books for teens and the main characters are always doing things that sets the wrong example, sending messages they shouldn't be sending."

Because of positive response to the book, Middletown High Principal Steven S. Ruscito said "Wedding" will be on the school's recommended summer reading list for 10th-graders in the local author category.

Superintendent Rosemarie K. Kraeger said she read "Wedding" during a recent vacation.

"I thought it was uplifting," Kraeger said. "Most of the books you read about adolescence and the teenage years, there's all sorts of crisis and negativity. I thought it took a positive look at the situation Maddie found herself in and Hannah was upbeat about it. I think it reflects what a lot of youth are going through now and it's something they can identify with."

Middletown High junior Danielle Silvia said she already was thinking about writing a book before she started reading Goodman's novel, which only helped to inspire her more.

"I thought the book was well written and I could relate to it," Silvia said. "I think it's a pretty realistic picture of high school and I'd definitely read another one of her books if I had the opportunity."

Laura Yentsch, English Department head at Middletown High, said that Goodman's "Wedding" features quite a bit of dialogue, which teachers encourage in students' writing.

"Hannah has a very good knowledge of some of the problems sophomores might face and a unique way of writing," Yentsch said. "The book should appeal to adults as well as students and we're proud that Hannah has done this. She's a student from Middletown schools and that lets sophomores see you, too, can be a writer and be published one day."

To write "Wedding," Goodman said she drew off some of her experiences growing up, not with her own family, but others she saw around her.

A few of the references are straight out of Middletown, like going to Holiday's to catch a movie and play miniature golf on a Friday night. Other places are loosely based on New Canaan, Conn., the hometown of her husband, Michael Porco. Much of it is straight-up fiction.

"Some of it came from growing up," Goodman said. "I knew people who drank too much, problem alcoholics, but we didn't call them that then. Seeing the consequences it had on others was like a stain on my childhood and I wanted to write something to let teenagers know there was someone out there they could identify with."

While some people may believe such problems do not exist among high school students or should not be discussed, Goodman said, "My response to those comments would be, if you don't think it's going on, you don't know what's going on.

"High school students are dealing with tremendous pressure and if this book helps even one understand that there are answers other than drinking and having sex, then it's done its job."

Goodman lives in Bristol with Porco, the couple's newborn daughter Chelsea and cats Judy, Lester, and Maisey. She's on maternity leave from her job, but is scheduled to be back at the high school for the start of the 2004-05 year.

So far, Goodman said "Wedding" has done well, especially for a book not readily available at most bookstores.

For a while, she thought of scrapping the idea altogether, but that all changed after she spotted a pamphlet at Barnes & Noble booksellers about publishing your own book.

Goodman said she sent in a copy of the manuscript to iUniverse - an Internet-based firm that helps authors publish, market and sell their work - and it was well received. With the help of her father, Louis Goodman, "Wedding" was finally published.

"He said he couldn't believe I was giving up on getting it published," Hannah Goodman said. "I can't say thanks enough to him.

"Really, both my parents and my husband and entire family have been so supportive throughout this entire process," said Goodman.

"Wedding" is stocked at Island Books in Middletown, Best Friends Bookstore in Tiverton, Barrington Books in Barrington and The Fabric Connection, a store owned by her mother, Sheryl, on Aquidneck Avenue. The book is also available online at www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, www.iuniverse.com and her own Web site www.hannahrgoodman.com.

Goodman will be holding a book signing on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Island Books, located in Wyatt Square on East Main Road.

If Goodman sells 500 copies of "Wedding," she said she's eligible for special incentive programs through iUniverse that could help distribute the book more widely.

Goodman said she has already written two more books and is working on a third featuring Maddie and is looking to get them published.

"Maddie is not perfect," Goodman said. "She's not the most popular, but she's not that person who has given up either. She has a self-worth and an energy that makes her strong, even when facing peer pressure and other pressures. I know she's stronger than I am in a lot of ways and someone I think people can learn from."