2008 Woodie Awards
Jenna Bush tours to Birmingham
Danielle Clyod
Issue date: 11/7/07 Section: News
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Before the book signing at 7 p.m., the doors to the bookstore were closed as the secret service checked and rechecked the store, making sure that it was safe and secure for Bush.
Onlookers passing by could observe agents waving their wands over the store and a bomb dog sniffing the surrounding aisles.
Since her book was published in September, Bush has been traveling across the United States promoting it and raising awareness for AIDS and the prevention of the disease.
Bush has been targeting young people by speaking to high school students about the discrimination AIDS victims face.
She's also focused on how young people cope with having the disease in their day-to-day lives.
The novel is meant to reach out to both young and old people and to show the public who read "Ana's Story" that a person at any age can help.
Bush presented "Ana's Story" to her audience as an inspirational tale of hope about a 17-year-old Latin American girl.
The story tells readers that Ana is a mother and has already experienced more hardships than some face in a lifetime.
Bush explained to her audience that she met and befriended Ana during her internship with the United Nations Children's fund, an organization that provides healthcare and assistance to children and mothers in developing or struggling countries.
"Ana" is not the girl's real name, because Bush promised Ana to keep her identity a secret.
The children in Ana's area face unbelievable discrimination if it is known that they are HIV positive.
Typically, when it is discovered that someone has AIDS, he or she is immediately ostracized by the public and, in many cases, kicked out of his or her home by close relatives.
Bush was inspired to write the story because of the young woman's charisma and determination to keep persevering for her child and herself in a world that has shown her nothing but adversity.
Bush read a passage in her novel about the deaths of the central character's 2-month-old baby sister and mother when Ana was too young to appreciate what it meant to die or to have an understanding of grief.