characters

	HAZEL TELLINGTON She’s a beanpole with mermaid-red curly hair; young and awkward, Hazel feels much older and stronger than she really is. Her over-protected Catholic childhood has not prepared her for what lies ahead as she is faced with a diverse, liberal-minded crowd. She knows not the small wonders of music, art, and picking out her own clothes. Her cynicism and sarcastic nature, however, keep her afloat as she learns to put a little humor into tough situations.
	REESE PHELPS Handsome and charming, Reese is a mystery to everyone, particularly Hazel. He manages to be polite, irresistibly attractive, and smooth all the while being a talented musician, cook and writer. How can one person be so... perfect?
	JAIME McJACK Jaime is all curves and attitude. She’s a wild spirit whose tomboyish ways slightly overpower her feminine allure. She is Ms. High School, balancing a full schedule of theatrical performances and basketball games while still being chipper and cheeky. Jaime is inherently sweet and accepting, but she packs a punch when she’s rubbed the wrong way.
	CAROLYNNE TELLINGTON Carolynne loves her job as a librarian almost as much as she loves her only daughter. As Hazel’s mom, she focuses on her duties as a successful and protective parent 24/7.
	ROY Roy is a flirt toward all the wrong women. Working on his masters in biology, he’s quick with useless scientific trivia, but slow to read obvious body language.

hazelnuts story

Frederick, Maryland never looked so boring as it does in Hazel Tellington’s eyes.

The New England fifteen-year-old could care less about her new home. And the town’s inhabitants. And her own existence in it. She only wishes she could stay in her secure private school, khaki dress code, and three-piece family. But when a mysterious series of events leads her parents into a quick and quiet divorce, Hazel is swept up into her mother’s station wagon one night and dropped into a busy and artsy little town in Maryland. Her new home lacks the luxuries left behind, and her mother turns from a modest housewife to a modest-income librarian.

Lucky for Hazel, there are distractions to keep her mind off the north coast: Reese, her charming and handsome neighbor; Roy, the youthful college grad from the café; and the enemy: Reese’s voluptuous attachment, tough-as-nails Jaime. That, and the appalling differences between her peers back home and her peers in this liberal-minded public school.

Will Hazel learn to look past the differences of her new classmates and finally make some worthwile friendships? Will she be able to stand hanging around Reese with that pesky “girlfriend” of his who never leaves his side? And most importantly: will she ever confront the mysteries she’s left behind, or instead choose to dive into her new life, never to return to her past?

Hazelnuts saw its debut in 1998 in the Urbana High School "Hawkeye" and began as a bi-weekly strip in 2001 on the comicreader.com webmag. This strip is rated G, but beware different ratings if the comic book is ever released! As it stands, these seventeen Hazenuts strips have been sold in a small run of 100 black-and-white books and have completely sold out.