On Wednesday, April 19, author and English professor Allison Whittenberg signed copies of her first novel, Sweet Thang, in the Paul and Harriet Mack Library. She also read an excerpt from the young adult book, which takes place in Philadelphia in the seventies.

When fourteen-year-old Charmaine Upshaw loses her favorite aunt, life is bleak. It gets harder still when her family takes in six-year-old Tracy John, her orphaned cousin.

As Whittenberg read from the first chapter, the audience laughed aloud and quickly became drawn into Charmaine’s humorous and touching world.

"It was a lot of fun to write,” Whittenberg told the audience after the reading. “But the personal thing is when I write about her aunt. The opening part with the funeral, that was basically my mom’s funeral. My mom passed away and this book is dedicated to her.”

Whittenberg is a Philadelphia native and a published poet. She earned her B.A. in writing/literature at Southampton College and her M.A. in English from the University of Wisconsin. Whittenberg is currently at work on her second young adult novel, Life is Fine.