My Best Friend Athena
by Dana Hammer
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GENRE: Middle Grade Fantasy
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BLURB:
Fanny
Fitzpatrick has the coolest best friend ever. Athena is smart, and pretty, and
brave, and kind. Fanny loves her friend, but sometimes, she feels a little
jealous of how perfect Athena is.
But even “perfect” girls make mistakes, and Athena makes a big one when she
accidentally turns the school bully into a cockroach. He was picking on their
friend Gemma and Athena lost her temper and her magic powers just slipped out
right in front of Fanny.
Now Fanny knows that Athena isn’t an ordinary girl – she’s the reincarnation of
a Greek goddess, powers and all – and now she needs Fanny and Gemma’s help to
hunt down the bully-turned-cockroach and turn him back into a human boy.
Fanny doesn’t want to spend all her time looking for a cockroach. She’s got the
Junior Miss Super Pretty Pageant to prepare for, if she can get over her stage
fright. Besides, Athena’s Dad, Zeus, has forbidden the girls from meddling with
any more cockroaches or magic, and Zeus is a god you don’t want to mess with.
Fanny has to make a choice. Should she pursue her pageant dreams, or risk Zeus’
wrath to find the cockroach-boy? What’s the right thing to do? And how do you
hunt down a cockroach anyway?
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Excerpt One:
Normally, when I arrive at school, I’m tired and cold and
grumpy, but not today! Because today I’ve got the World’s Coolest Necklace, and
everyone’s gonna notice it and give me compliments. It’s a “statement”
necklace, and I got it at an old lady’s estate sale yesterday. I was shopping
with my best friend, Athena, when I saw it. It was sitting on a dresser, with a
bunch of other jewellery, but this necklace was the only one that caught my
eye. It’s a large octopus, with jewel-covered tentacles, and two pearls for
eyes. I tried it on, and it looked like the tentacles were reaching around my
neck, trying to choke me. I’d never seen anything so cool in my life. It was
$20, which was more than I had, but luckily Athena was there, and she bought it
for me. Athena always has lots of money, because she’s a rich kid, but that’s
NOT why I’m friends with her.
Anyway, she saw how sad I was that I couldn’t afford the
necklace and she just bought it for me, probably because she has excellent
taste and could see what a great investment it would be. She said it was
“quirky” and “an interesting piece,” which I happen to know is code for “high
fashion”.
My mom said it was “tacky garbage” but she doesn’t know
about fashion. She mostly wears gym clothes, even when she’s not at the gym,
and she never wears jewelry, except her wedding ring.
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Until My Best Friend Athena, my writing was mainly
focused on adult themes, especially horror-comedy adult themes. This is a fun
way to write, and I have no intention of quitting, but now that I have a child,
it seemed like a good idea to write something that I could share with her. She’s
at the age now where she’s aware of my career, and is interested in what I
write about. So I decided to write a kid-friendly book that would still be
entertaining to older readers.
I wanted a heroine who was smart, funny, and relatable — someone
I would have wanted to hang out with when I was eleven. I think Fanny hits all
those marks. I also wanted to explore preteen friendships, which are often
fraught and dramatic. I wanted my characters to be good people who care about
each other, but are human, and experience jealousy, insecurity, anger, and
selfishness. These are kids after all — except Athena, of course, who is
thousands of years old. But she’s a Greek goddess, so she’s allowed to have
flaws, just like humans.
To be honest, I don’t have a background in Greek mythology, or even a strong interest in it. I remember studying it a little in high school, and liking some of the stories, but that’s about it. So I wouldn’t say Greek mythology was MY inspiration, but it was obviously AN inspiration, since I borrow characters, powers and symbols from the pantheon. It’s not exactly canon, but I hope that I paid an acceptable homage to Athena, Zeus, Atlas, and any other characters I brought in to this world.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.
https://www.facebook.com/Dana-Hammer-Author-Page-1707631229449685
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10794904.Dana_Hammer
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Friend-Athena-Dana-Hammer-ebook/dp/B0BHH74MNM/
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GIVEAWAY :
Dana
Hammer will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Sounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
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