New Book on Teens in Foster Care Hits Stores Just in Time for May National Foster Care Month
Dr. Lee Tobin McClain, director of 茄子视频 University鈥檚 Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction, has released a new teen novel, 鈥淢y Loco Life,鈥� available at local bookstores and online from Dorchester Press. The book is the third in her 鈥淎lternate Life鈥� series featuring a magic computer game that lets foster and adopted teens see what life would have been like with their birth families.
鈥淢y Loco Life鈥� tells the story of Alicia Jiminez, a foster teen who wants to win a scholarship to the fashion institute of Madrid. But to compete, she鈥檚 got to undo her mental block against learning Spanish鈥攚hich means dealing with her feelings about her birth family. Help comes in the form of handsome Hector Cardona, Alicia鈥檚 neighbor, who鈥檚 eager to tutor Alicia even at the risk of upsetting his catty ex-girlfriend, Alicia鈥檚 chief rival for the fashion scholarship.
鈥淭eenagers in foster care get a bad rap,鈥� says McClain, a longtime advocate for at-risk youth. 鈥淭hese kids have to be heroic just to live their lives, so I wanted to write books that portray them as heroes.鈥�
McClain also wanted her series to be entertaining and easy to read. 鈥淓ven though my books address some serious issues鈥攊n fact, because they do鈥擨 wanted them to be accessible to a wide audience,鈥� she says. Plenty of fashion, dating, and tugs at the heartstrings keep teens turning the pages.
An adoptive mother, McClain is active in local adoption organizations and writes a column about foster children and reading for Fostering Families Today magazine.
The Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction teaches students to write marketable novels in popular genres like mystery, romance, children鈥檚 literature, science fiction, horror, and fantasy. For more information on the Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction, please visit www.setonhill.edu.
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Contacts:
Dr. Lee McClain, Professor of English and Director, Writing Popular Fiction Program
610-277-1117 / McClain@setonhill.edu
Becca Baker, Associate Director of Media Relations
724-830-1069 / 724-689-3599 (cell) / bbaker@setonhill.edu