Mean Girls Inspire Young Author

Marietta, GA -- Bullying in schools can be a big problem, but a fifth-grader from Marietta is using mean girls as a source of inspiration instead.

Maddie Siegel, 10, held a book-signing for "Meredith and the Mean Girls" at Borders Books in East Cobb County on Saturday.

"I'm getting the hang of it," she said as she wrote personal messages and signed her name to a stack of books. "I feel like a celebrity."

Her first book, which is being sold on Amazon.com, has a basis in real life.

"A couple of years ago, she had a couple of mean girls at her school, and that's the way she dealt with it," said Bob Siegel, Maddie's dad. "She had the discipline to turn it into a book."

"It's about a girl who moves to a new school and there are mean girls," Maddie said. "So it's pretty much telling you if you're mean, there will be consequences."

Maddie's dad is also a writer, but he's never been published. Maddie beat him to it.

"I'm just bursting with pride," Bob Siegel said. "It's an amazing thing."

Maddie Siegel is a fifth-grader at Timber Ridge Elementary School in Marietta.

She is already working on a sequel to "Mean Girls."