Interview & #Giveaway – The Greenlee Project by Amanda Thrasher #TheGreenleeProject #bullying #cyberbullying #LoneStarLit @AmandaMThrasher @KristineTHall

StoreyBook Reviews September 16, 2016September 10, 2016

THE GREENLEE PROJECT
by
Amanda M. Thrasher

Genre: Young Adult / Contemporary / Cyber-bullying
Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press
Date of Publication: October 31, 2015
Number of Pages: 206

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synopsis

Social media, cruel jokes, and bitter betrayal – watch your teens!

Greenlee Lynn Granger is about to find out how easily social media can be used as a malicious tool: a normal teen one day and ruined the next. Who knew a boy’s affections would turn her life into such a nightmare? Becoming a designated ‘project,’ a joke in front of the whole school, turns Greenlee’s life upside down. Relationships with her family and friends strained, she is forced to make mature decisions. Greenlee knows her choices will determine the future of her abusers.

An emotional glimpse into the reality of cyber-bullying, The Greenlee Project showcases the all-too-common anonymous and cruel betrayals of others through social media, of such magnitude that it devastates a young teen, her friends, family, and the community. Cyber-bullying affects not just the victims, but everyone around them. After being the target of cyber-bullying, what Greenlee does next is shocking.

Amazon * Barnes and Noble * Ingram/iPage * Progressive Rising Phoenix Press * The Mom’s Choice Award Store

Praise for The Greenlee Project

“The Greenlee Project is a touching and chilling cautionary tale that every teen should read. Amanda Thrasher gives us interesting and compelling characters, a well-crafted plot, and a breathless pace. Her teens are so real that you will feel you know them personally. Teens will find The Greenlee Project a compelling read and a helpful guide, while adults will see the challenges today’s teens face. This is a grand and important story.” — David A. Bedford, Ph.D. Instructor of Spanish at TCU

“The Greenlee Project is a captivating fictional story addressing critical real-life issues that tweens and teens face today. Bullying and cyber-bullying are part of our society today that has had tragic consequences for many. Amanda Thrasher, is a talented author, who has delivered a story that is both compelling and also thought-provoking. You can feel the emotions of each of the characters as the story unfolds along this journey. It will leave you with the desire to change the world around you and to talk to others about the increasing severity of bullying and cyber-bullying. With the discussion questions included, this is an excellent choice for book-clubs and middle school language arts classes. Such a critical and important story. – Lisa Robinson – NSC

“The Greenlee Project is a wonderful book about a terrible subject. It’s hard to read this book without feeling sad, then angry, then empathetic, then proud.” – Sherry Leigh Rummel

“I was blown away by The Greenlee Project. You hear so much about bullying and things that teenagers deal with online these days. It’s been a few week since I finished the book, and I’m still thinking about how real the characters are. You feel like you could meet any of them at any high school any where. This book is great for any age group, but teens and their parents should definitely read The Greenlee Project.” – E. Nieman

AuthorInterview

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?

I think it chose me, not that I wouldn’t write other things. But I felt kids need beautiful endings, despite the adventure (The Ghost of Whispering Willow or The Mischief Series), the endings are good or beautiful, because they see or read enough garbage. (That’s my personal opinion. The theory if they’re reading, it’s ok, wasn’t enough for me. I write YA because I believe there’s a HUGE difference, mentally, between a fourteen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old, yet they’re categorized the same way (reading YA age 13-18). I felt that messages such as found in The Greenlee Project could be delivered without spelling everything out.

Where did your love of reading/writing come from?

Started as a child. Creative writing was always my favorite class. But I was reading by the time I was four years old. I love to read and I love to write. I loved poetry first, creative writing after that; but I love to create worlds that other people can enjoy.

What was the hardest part of writing this The Greenlee Project?

Oh my goodness, great question, where to start. Everything. The topic. The fact that it could happen to anyone’s kid, yours, the neighbors, or mine, being the victim or the bully. Good kids from great families could end up being bullied or being the bully. At times not even realizing how much damage they’re doing. Scary.

What did you find most useful in learning to write? What was least useful or most destructive?

I’m going to receive a lot of slack for this statement, I’m sure of it. This is my personal opinion, mine alone, and does not reflect the opinion of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press. I have seen many writers, MS, from educated professionals that have majored in literature. They can string sentences together, form a story line and plot. The grammar is often perfect. But what they lack is emotion, the words that will pull a reader into the book and force them to have no choice but to turn a page. I do not believe everyone can write. I believe they can write a story, yes, but not everyone can write a book worth reading and after all that is the objective of a writer. The most useful information or valuable thing that I’ve learned came from my mentor, editor, and friend. She loved the way I wrote when she didn’t even have to. She said, “Narrate your story, be the tour guide.” I had the emotion and the words that seemed to touch my audience. But without the proper narration, the words could not unfold properly. This was valuable advice. The worst advice I’ve ever heard was to focus on grammatical content. Terrible advice. Writers have editors for a reason but shouldn’t accept everything their editors suggest. Some content, such as dialog, the grammar at times will never be correct.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

Child murder or disappearing. I just couldn’t go there…

Who are some of your favorite authors you feel were influential in your work? What impact have they had on your writing?

Today I read biographies, Patterson, Grisham, DeMille. Growing up my favorites, which likely influenced me the most were Jane Austen (love her still), Pride and Prejudice of course and Sense and Sensibility, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Great Expectations and The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, I remember receiving for my birthday. I read them over and over again. I still have my copy of The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe. I was eight years old. The pages are yellow, falling apart. But it came all the way from England with me.

What literary character is most like you?

Honestly, I wouldn’t even know. It would depend which day it was J work day, Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, CEO, or writing day, where I’m an author, or being mom and wife. They encompass so many different roles. My mind set is different in every one. It has to be. Business world is 100% different than the creative world.

What book do you wish you could have written?

Interesting question……um……I haven’t written it yet, and I haven’t thought about taking someone else’s work. I’ll have to keep thinking about that one.

What do your plans for future projects include?

Trade shows, social media, book cover reveals, blogs, PR, website coming soon, anything to drum up interest a head of time.

What’s your funniest flaw?

Maybe funny to some but not if you’re living with me, ha, but I’m insomniac so can work till odd hours of the evening. Eat at late hours and it’s not unusual to forget to eat and have to be reminded.

If you were a superhero, what would your name be? What costume would you wear?

I’d wear something cute, definitely, likely with heels (because I always wear heels) J unless I wear running shoes, probably superfixer. Ha! Fix things, super fast.

Where is one place you want to visit that you haven’t been before?

Colorado.

If you could speak with any accent from anywhere in the world, what would you choose?

Italian

**SPOILER ALERT!***SPOILER ALERT!***SPOILER ALERT!***SPOILER ALERT!**

For those of us who’ve read the book. . . did Clay ever really like Greenlee?

I don’t think he did. I think he felt guilt afterwards, which is the cruelest part, because the guilt came for the right reasons but his act was so cruel. I think he showed remorse, which was good character, but he broke her heart and humiliated her. He felt bad for his part, as he should. He felt the need to make it right, as he should because he recognized how brutal what he’d done was and he needed to make amends as best he could and take ownership of his part. That was the right the thing to do. But I don’t think he ever cared for her; that’s devastating for her, Greenlee. Not only was she humiliated, but also her heart was stomped on at the same time. I like that Clay took ownership of his part, but I hate that he broke her heart. It was cruel and the damage for a teen girl is often irreversible (the heartache) for many years. Add the humiliation, just brutal.

about the author

amanda-thrasher Multiple Award Winning Author Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England, moved to Texas and resides there still. Author of several children’s books including picture books, middle-grade chapter books, YA and even a reader’s theater titled “What If . . . A Story of Shattered Lives.” She conducts workshops, writes a blog and contributes to an online magazine. She’s a multiple Gold recipient of the Mom’s Choice Awards for The Greenlee Project, YA and General Fiction, and for Spider Web Scramble, a Mischief book. As Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, she assists authors with their work and shares her writing process and what she has learned as a publisher with people of all ages.