Hi, today I'm introducing the new cover and relaunch of a friend's book. Donna Dillon has recently
been signed up by Master Koda Select Publishing and this is the new cover of her novel,
The Snake Pit: Jr High Can be Torture.
been signed up by Master Koda Select Publishing and this is the new cover of her novel,
The Snake Pit: Jr High Can be Torture.
Donna believes it's an important book because of its content and subject matter. It's something students and teachers may find particularly interesting. Donna feels passionately about preventing bullying in school and this is a theme of the book.
Donna published her first book in
October 2010. When Master Koda Select Publishing approached her with a
publishing contract, she seized the opportunity.
About Donna
I am the author of five and 1/4 books thus far. I have been writing in the young adult genre with The Snake Pit and Return to the Snake Pit, which both deal with bullying in the public schools, and in the children's genre with Why Did It Have to Rain Today? and My Special Christmas Child. My new book is a leap into the thriller/suspense genre, so I'm anxious to finish and see how that goes.
Quick Q&A
Q: What led you to publish your work
with MKSP?
Donna: I can write, but I suck at marketing. Kim and her team had some
definite ideas about how we could get The Snake Pit books moving. It was a
no-brainer for me.
Q: Why did you write this book?
Donna: Cinda, the character in the book, was born with a cleft palate and so was I. The things that happen
in the book are fiction, but how she felt was exactly how I felt growing up.
Being bullied for something you can't possibly help or change is horrible. I
chose to turn it into something positive, but many bullied children do not. I'm
47 years old now. I can still hear the bullies' voices in my head. But, the
thing I remember the most - the thing that bothers me the most - is the silence from
those who just stood by and let it happen, and did nothing to stop it. That is
why I wrote this book.
3 fun facts about Donna
1. I can ride a unicycle.
2. I can't breathe through my nose and I've never had a sense of smell. I can taste though, but don't ask me why - it's a
mystery.
3. When I was 22, I was flown out to
Hollywood and made a make-up commercial for Victoria Jackson cosmetics, which you
can still catch on TV late at night. I also met Johnny Depp and had my picture
taken with Heavy D on that same trip.
Whoa, Donna!!! You met Johnny.... I am green!!!
About The Snake Pit: Jr. High can be Torture
Cinda doesn't look like other
twelve-year-old girls. A facial defect and corrective surgery has left
her looking scarred and disfigured. When she walks into Hargrove Junior High for
the first time, Cinda knows the other kids won't see how smart she is or what
a good friend she could be; the other kids will see her as a monster and her
life will be torture.
The school cafeteria, or The Snake
Pit, as the kids call it, is the prime location for bullying. One pretty
girl in particular takes an instant dislike to Cinda. Day after day, she is
pushed, tripped and laughed at. Not all the other kids bully her, but only one
tries to help.
Charlene Carsten is Cinda's only friend.
She tries to stop the bullying, but the other kids will not listen. She tries to
tell the Principal, but he only sees what he wants to. She tries to tell the
teachers, but they all say the same thing - “Kids will be kids.”
When Cinda falls victim to a vicious
prank at a school dance, it sets off a series of events that will change the lives
of everyone involved.
Links
