Self-acceptance is a critical element of self-esteem, particularly in today's culture where we are more valued by what we do and what we have as opposed to who we are. So, we chase after some notion of what is going to make us happy with ourselves never finding a truly satisfying answer. The Life and Times of Dexter: A Tale of Spider Webs and Self-Discovery, speaks to everyone - children, teens and adults. No matter what stage of life we are in, we need to love and value ourselves just because... and that can only happen if we challenge ourselves to reach our highest potential as human beings. Through his struggles to be more self-accepting, Dexter serves to help readers examine their own self-worth. He travels far and wide to quell his inner dissatisfaction. Along the way he meets other characters who challenge him to take a deeper look inside himself. These relationships teach him humility, trust, perseverance and self-sacrifice. They help him realize that by caring for others, he is able to feel the kind of peace and joy that only true self-acceptance can bring.

Self-acceptance is a critical element of self-esteem, particularly in today's culture where we are more valued by what we do and what we have as opposed to who we are. So, we chase after some notion of what is going to make us happy with ourselves never finding a truly satisfying answer. The Life and Times of Dexter: A Tale of Spider Webs and Self-Discovery, speaks to everyone - children, teens and adults. No matter what stage of life we are in, we need to love and value ourselves just because... and that can only happen if we challenge ourselves to reach our highest potential as human beings. Through his struggles to be more self-accepting, Dexter serves to help readers examine their own self-worth. He travels far and wide to quell his inner dissatisfaction. Along the way he meets other characters who challenge him to take a deeper look inside himself. These relationships teach him humility, trust, perseverance and self-sacrifice. They help him realize that by caring for others, he is able to feel the kind of peace and joy that only true self-acceptance can bring.

From the Authors Since writing my book, "A Dream Within a Dream," in 2008, the enigmas of the Kiger family have slowly been peeled away, revealing pain, suffering, regret, and forgiveness. My wife, Barbara, a psychologist who has worked with adolescent girls and their families for the last thirty years, has been very curious as to how such a tragedy could have taken place in this seemingly "normal" family. After many late night discussions and debates, we decided to write a play exploring how this horrific incident affected the survivors, Joan and her mother. We wanted the play to highlight Joan as she transitioned from an innocent 15 year old to a 16 year old marred by fate and the legal system . And what about Jennie? What was life like for her after her family was totally destroyed by this inexplicable event? In our writing process, we each seemed to gravitate to those scenes which somehow spoke to something deep within us. For Barbara, it was the mother- daughter relationship and Joan's metamorphosis: becoming the young woman who guides her mother toward forgiveness and truth; and for me, it was about the machinations of men interested more in their own fame, fortune and survival than in helping a troubled teenager. Our thanks to all who have contributed to the search for what happened to this family that fateful year of 1943 and to the Boone County Historical Society under the guidance of Asa Rouse and Bruce Ferguson who were the first to bring this story from the yellowed pages of sixty- year old newspapers to their recreation of the Kiger murder trial.

In 1943, during the height of World War II, an event occurred in Boone County, Kentucky, that put the war news on page two from August 17 until the 21st. The headlines throughout the nation focused on a murderous rampage that took place at Rosegate, the sprawling summer home of the politically ambitious Vice-Mayor of Covington, Kentucky. Carl Kiger and his six-year-old son, Jerry, were brutally shot fifteen times while Jennie, his wife, was critically wounded. When the 15 year old daughter, Joan, unharmed by the incident, is arrested, the lives of Mafia hit men, small town officials, and prominent attorneys are intertwined as they each sort out the truth.