New Book Release For Tweens Captures Heart Of Middle School Magic

Reality Bites, Tales of a Half-Vampire is set to grab its audience with both magic and mayhem as students kick off another school year.

Logan, Utah (I-Newswire) September 4, 2012 - What tween can’t relate to the idiosyncrasies of parents and teachers that drive them nuts? To the anxieties that go along with a budding crush? To the desire to start marching to one’s own set of ideals and values? How about cranking those realities of everyday life up a notch by finding yourself in the middle of a family full of monsters (i.e., vampires, witches, werewolves, and mummies)? Thus is one of the predicaments faced by MacKenzie Bonapart in Reality Bites, Tales of a Half-Vampire, the newest novel for tweens from award-winning author, Shaunda Kennedy Wenger.

“Wenger knows her audience well,” writes Suzanne Morris of Kid Lit Reviews on Wenger’s first book, The Ghost in Me, which earned such praises as, “Love, love, love!” and “A fun read!” If early reviews of Reality Bites are on the mark, Wenger may be set to please her young readers again. Reality Bites is hitting home with young and old alike; and Wenger couldn’t be happier.

“My middle school years—although plagued with your typical stresses—were loaded with fun. Perhaps that’s why I love writing for this market. I particularly like targeting my books reluctant readers. But while I like to entertain, I also hope that by the end of my stories, my characters have grown in a way that inspires my readers to conquer whatever issues they face.”

Indeed, MacKenzie Bonapart has familiar issues to deal with in Reality Bites, like bullies, secret crushes, and the expectations of growing up in a paranormal family. But for a girl who may be half-dead, Mackenzie knows how to grab life by the horns; and she lives it to the fullest, even if it is in the quirkiest of ways. From its opening lines of, “It’s because of the whole dead bunny thing … that I’ve taken up lying," to the closing scenes that are full of fun twists, magic and discovery, Reality Bites, Tales of a Half-Vampire will provide a fun read for tweens in search of their own destinies.