Teacher Takes Passion For Teaching To A New Level

March 30, 2011 - PRLog -- Julie Prestsater’s debut novel, So I’m a Double Threat garnered much interest, prompting her to write a sequel: Double Threat My Bleep. The Double Threat series begins with Megan Miller’s ninth grade year as a straight A student who manages to do well in high school while indulging in some non-school sponsored extra-curricular activities. Prestsater also released a stand-alone novel, You Act So White, about an academically achieving Mexican-American teenager who struggles to negotiate cultural identity and stereotypes. All three books are edgy, and sometimes racy, high interest novels written for teens.

“I HATED reading as a kid,” says Prestsater. “In fact, my friends would tease me in high school and tell me I better hurry up and check out whatever book we were reading at the time, because it was due the next day. I never had any connection with the books we were required to read, so I never felt the urge to pick up a book for fun. I never realized there were other books out there.” Seeing this similar behavior of reluctant reading in her students, Prestsater set out to write high-interest books for teens. One comment posted on Prestsater's website describes the first Double Threat book as "addictive". Another comment boasts, "Best book I've read in school so far."

Intended to engage readers who do not find reading pleasurable, Prestsater’s books describe real-teen issues and are set in an environment where teenagers socialize most: high school. “My ultimate goal is to write stories that teens won’t want to put down. I didn’t discover a love for reading until graduate school. Hopefully, those who pick up my books won’t have to wait until then,” she says. Filled with teenage angst, drama, hot guys, and backstabbing friends, teens will be able to find at least one character to relate to or fall in love with.

First and foremost, Prestsater is a teacher. While she loves writing, she is most happy when one of her students becomes an avid reader. "Reading for pleasure can change your life. It can be the thing you do to have fun in another world, to escape to a happy place, and it makes all the required reading of high school and college much easier to handle. You can read the assigned stuff a lot faster and understand a lot more when you read for fun," Prestsater says. When asked about her favorite part of being an author, she says, “I love when a student comes up to me and says ‘Your book was amazing, it’s the first one I’ve ever read cover to cover’. Knowing my book may have been the one to make that kid a life-long reader is one of the most rewarding things a teacher could hope for.”

So I’m a Double Threat, Double Threat My Bleep, and You Act So White are available in both paperback and a variety of eBook formats at Amazon.com and BN.com. For links to all retailers, visit http://www.juliepbooks.com.

About the Author
Julie Prestsater is a high school reading intervention teacher, physical science teacher, and an adjunct instructor in a graduate reading program at a local university.  She lives in Lake Elsinore, CA with her husband James and two daughters Sara and Samantha.