Book Description

Years before Ann Landers and Dear Abby, there was Pegge Parker, a 21-year-old high school graduate who began writing a daily advice column for teenagers in the Harrisburg Telegraph (Pennsylvania) in the 1940s. She named her column ¿Teen Topics and invited her teen readers to send her their problems. In these selected columns, you¿ll discover the quandaries that helped to shape the Greatest Generation¿and realize not much has changed.As Pegge¿s columns grew in popularity, she was invited to prestigious events at West Point Academy, New York¿s elite gatherings, and even the Indian Embassy. She mingled with Generals and royalty, movie stars and music legends¿all of which became daily entries in her column. Pegge skillfully and tactfully handled such dilemmas as grammar, dating, etiquette, grooming, travel tips, cooking and more. With no formal writing education, but a definite flair with the pen, Pegge furthered her career as a reporter in Washington, D.C., and Fairbanks, Alaska, and then moved ahead as a foreign correspondent in China, India, and South and Central America. She is the author of Diapers on a Dateline, detailing her time in India, juggling a demanding career, a new husband and five children in a foreign land. She also wrote Alias Pegge Parker, the story of an adventurous young woman who forged an exciting and successful career in the male-dominated field of foreign correspondence. With her husband, John Hlavacek, she coauthored Freelancing in Paradise covering their years living and working as freelance journalists in the Caribbean.