The Aqua Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town

Jennifer Niven's memoir, 'The Aqua Net Diaries,' offers a vibrant and honest look at her high school years in 1980s Richmond, Indiana. Parents will appreciate its humorous and touching portrayal of adolescence, covering everything from awkward first days and driver's ed to first loves and the quest for identity. It's a deeply nostalgic read for those who grew up in the era, and a wonderfully relatable story for teens today, showcasing the timeless challenges and joys of growing up in America's heartland. The book captures the pain, joy, and shame of these formative years with a universal appeal.

Jennifer Niven quit her job as a television producer to write the true story of a doomed 1913 Arctic expedition in her first book, The Ice Master, which was named one of the top ten nonfiction books by Entertainment Weekly, and won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. She received high praise for her follow- up arctic adventure, Ada Blackjack, which detailed the life of one woman who overcame enormous odds to survive. Now, Niven tells a survival tale of a different kind; her own thrilling, excruciating, amazing, and utterly unforgettable adventure in a midwestern high school during the 1980s. Richmond, Indiana, was a place where people knew their neighbors and went to church on Sundays. It also had only one high school with 2,500 students, and for both the students and the townspeople, it was the center of the universe. In The Aqua-Net Diaries, Niven takes readers through her adolescent years in full, glorious—and hilarious—detail, sharing awkward moments from the first day of school, to driver’s ed, and her first love, against a backdrop of bad 1980s fashion and big hair. Like Chuck Klosterman in Fargo Rock City, Niven’s talented voice perfectly captures the pain, joy, and shame of going through adolescence in America’s heartland, making a funny, touching, and universal experience.