Junior Jessica Mele Writes Book, Waterworld
courtesy of Jessica Mele
Las Lomas is home to a plethora of talented students showcasing their work for their community and world to see. One of the most recent students to brighten the campus with their skill is junior Jessica Mele, who published a juvenile fiction novel called Waterworld on April 18th of this year.
Mele and her friend Alexis Linder, who lives in Southern California, started writing the book together two summers ago. Mele and Linder were able to virtually eliminate the distance between each other in order to accomplish their goal of completing the book.
Waterworld is a thrilling, coming-of-age novel about a 14 year old boy named Logan Adams who finds himself caught in a disastrous flood that destroys his town in Southern California. Logan embarks on an adventure that involves many secrets and a fight for survival, he creates a strong friend- ship with Peyton Clark, a determined girl who helps Logan overcome his fears.
Mele shares that the book has characters and themes that readers of a younger audience can be influenced by.
“The major themes of this novel are friendship, overcoming fear, and trust. I believe it can be used as inspiration because Logan matures throughout the novel, and he learns to overcome one of his greatest fears. He learns the importance of friendship and trust, and I believe that’s information people can keep with them,” said Mele.
Mele states that the ideas for Waterworld came from a variety of sources.
“We mostly got our ideas from everyday life and experiences because we want this book to be a role model for younger children. Also, the setting is around where we live, so we got a lot of inspiration from that. We also got inspiration from current issues; we talk about global warming a little bit,” said Mele.
Currently, Mele and Linder’s book can be found on Amazon and other major online book sellers.
Mele is working with the Walnut Creek Education Foundation to set up a program that would benefit schools in the district.
“They would get some of the proceeds from the book, and it would be advertised to all the elementary schools,” said Mele.
Mele considers the whole writing and publishing process a truly rewarding experience. “I’d really recommend it to anyone who wants to, and I’d say to stick with it because oftentimes I’ve written a book and I just haven’t found the will to finish it. It’s really accomplishing once you do.”
