SPPS Alum James A. Engen Pens Book About the East Side

SPPS alum James A. Engen recently published his first book, The Trestle: A Story from the East Side of St. Paul.

Engen, who attended Hayden Heights Elementary, Hazel Park and Johnson Senior High, calls the book “a coming of age story.” The Trestle itself is an old street car bridge turned hidden foot bridge near Hazel Park.

“The book chronicles the lives of these kids that are mid teens, who are approaching high school age, and talks about the decisions that they have to make while growing up,” Engen said. “It’s about that age that kids start choosing their paths. In large part, these are good kids who get into a little bit of mischief. As it relates to St. Paul, they’re hometown, homespun kids, and back in those days, you were loyal to your neighborhood and especially your playground.”

Engen emphasized this is a fiction book: “When you write, you can only write what you know, so you draw on some things from your past.”

Engen said even though it’s set in a prior time, he thinks kids today can relate.

“Literature, if it’s any good at all, holds up,” he explained. “Kids today have to make a lot of the same decisions, and hopefully they’re able to read this and identify with the characters and see themselves and their own paths.”