Navy Brat: Marysville girl can relate to book’s main character

  • By Andy Rathbun Herald Writer
  • Monday, October 15, 2007 3:42pm
  • LifeMarysville

Piper Reed and Shealene Cook have a lot in common.

Both are the daughters of Navy men. Both have had to relocate because of their father’ careers. Both even have little sisters.

Sometimes it seems the only thing separating the two is that Piper Reed isn’t real, and Shealene Cook is.

Piper is the main character in a new book, “Piper Reed, Navy Brat,” by National Book Award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt. Her tale resonated with Shealene, a genuine 12-year-old Navy brat who lives in Marysville.

Shealene tore through “Piper Reed, Navy Brat” in two days. The story, which centers on Reed’s relocation from San Diego to Florida, mirrored aspects of Cook’s life. The Marysville resident was born in Guam and has lived in California and Wisconsin. A sixth-grader now, Shealene moved to Washington six years ago.

“It actually proves to you that your life is kind of like the book,” Cook said, sitting on her living room couch. “It’s kind of interesting to see, ‘Oh, I’ve been there.’ I can make connections with the characters.”

The life of a military brat comes with an unusual amount of stress, according to a 2007 preliminary report on military families by the American Psychological Association. From the frequent moves to the uncertainty of having a parent in combat overseas, the children face uncommon challenges. However, the same APA report found the group is fairly resilient.

Shealene certainly seems resilient. A thin wire of a girl, bright-eyed and with braces, she’s quick to talk about the prospect of playing professional soccer when she grows up or perhaps becoming a dancer.

Her messy room has rows of books, tending toward fantasy titles such as “Eragon.” It was in that room that she clipped through some of the pages in “Piper Reed.”

While the term “brat” might seem derogatory, none of the Cooks take it that way. Shealene might get a little tired of hearing the term, but her father, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Robert Cook, said he didn’t mind it at all.

“I think honestly, sometimes it’s envious,” Cook said. “These kids get to go and see things that not a lot of people do. They get to meet different cultures, even inside the United States.”

Although Cook wants to keep his family in the same place now that Shealene has started middle school, there’s a steady amount of uncertainty about the family’s future. The Navy always could move him.

“It could happen, yeah,” Cook said. “Really, it’s all about what the needs of the Navy are. If they need you to go now, you go now. We understand that.”

Shealene said it’s difficult to leave behind friends, and doesn’t look forward to the idea of another relocation. If it comes to that, however, she’s can always find some comfort in the pages of “Piper Reed.”

Shealene said her Dad — like Piper’s own father — lets his two daughters pick a place to visit before he ships out. It gives them some quality time together. While Piper’s character went to the Naval Aviation Museum with her fictional father, Shealene visited Mount St. Helens before her Dad went to Iraq.

“It was, like, really a scene I could relate with,” she said.

Unlike Piper, though, she doesn’t anticipate going into the Navy. Outside of dancing and soccer, she said she’s drawn to child psychiatry as a career.

“I want to go and help the kids that have been in the military, and have to deal with the same thing I did,” she said, “because I can kind of relate with the kids, what they’re going through.”

Herald writer Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455 or arathbun@heraldnet.com

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