70-foot, 50-ton Prehistoric Great White Shark Gets Teens To Read
West Palm Beach, FL, March 16, 2016 – It was the most terrifying creature ever to have existed on our planet… a 70-foot, 100,000 pound prehistoric Great White Shark. Its jaws could engulf an elephant in two bites; its teeth were seven inches long, and if Megalodon ever sensed your beating heart… you were probably about to be devoured whole.
March is National Reading month and thousands of high school students will be devouring MEG the novel in high school. When MEG debuted in 1997, author Steve Alten had no idea the book would be so popular among teens. For many, it was the first book they ever finished. High school teachers contacted the author and told him they were using MEG as part of their curriculum. After Alten learned the Young Adult Library Services Association (Y.A.L.S.A.) had named MEG as a top selection, he founded the Adopt-an-Author program, a non-profit that provides teachers with curriculum materials, classroom posters, interactive websites – and direct contact between the students and authors via Skype, email, and personal visits. Adopt-an-Author is free, paid for by Steve Alten. Teachers interested in the program can register at www.AdoptAnAuthor.com.
With over 10,000 registered teachers in the program, it’s been a struggle for the author to keep up with expenses. To raise funds, Alten recently printed 5,000 special 20th Anniversary limited edition MEG hardbacks, each book numbered. Last week the author spent three days in a warehouse signing the remaining 2600 books as well as giant 24 inch by 36 inch MEG posters – not an easy feat for anyone, let alone someone with Parkinson’s Disease (Alten was diagnosed in 2007). Signed books and posters are being sold at www.SteveAlten.com.
Warner Brothers, Apelles Entertainment, and Gravity Pictures recently optioned MEG as a major motion picture.
MEG
By Steve Alten
Viper Press (A&M Publishing)
ISBN-10: 1-943957-01-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-9439-5701-9
$9.99 paperback
