Jeannette Eyerly, one of the first writers for young adults to deal with themes such as unwanted pregnancy, alcoholism and drugs, died Aug. 18 at her home in Des Moines, Iowa. She was 100.

The death was confirmed by her grandson Josh Pichler.

In books such as "Drop-Out," "A Girl Like Me" and "Escape From Nowhere," Eyerly moved beyond the pretty-in-pink world of dates and sock hops to focus on more serious problems confronting young girls. In addition to facing the usual troubles with school and boyfriends, her heroines dealt with their parents' failing marriages, or with peer pressure to take drugs or shoplift.

"In a humane and compassionate way, she broached subjects that were not being written about or discussed," said Starr LaTronica, the youth-services manager for the Four County Library System in Vestal, N.Y. "She blazed the way."

Early life

Jeannette Hyde was born in Topeka, Kan., and grew up in Des Moines. She attended Drake University and the University of Iowa, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1930.

After college, Eyerly worked as the publicity director for the Des Moines Public Library and wrote short stories and how-to articles on raising children for magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's and Better Homes & Gardens. With a friend, Valeria Winkler Griffith, she also wrote a syndicated weekly newspaper column, "Family Diary."

In 1962 she published "More Than a Summer Love," a romance with a message: Do not marry too soon. It was followed a year later by "Drop-Out," with the intent, she later wrote, to dissuade teenagers from leaving school, not by lecturing them but by engaging them in a good story.

She wrote 17 novels over the next 25 years, nearly all with young women as protagonists. Often, to develop her material, she interviewed girls being cared for by social service agencies.

In 1932, she married Frank Eyerly, an editor at The Des Moines Register. He died in 1997. She is survived by a sister; two daughters; six grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

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