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Schools

Glendora High English Teacher Publishes Her First Book

For Kathleen Huebbe, her novel of classic cars and street-racing subculture was a dream 20 years in the making.

Kathleen Huebbe had a passion when she was a teen.

A passion fueled by her father; a passion for souped up cars, cruising and the street race culture that defined the post World War II generation. Attending car shows with her father and being regaled with stories of his adventurous youth, Huebbe would lay the groundwork for what would become "Runaway: Their Moment In Time."

In mid-April of this year, Brighton Publishing officially announced the signing of Huebbe. "Runaway" is scheduled for eBook release in the fall of 2013, with a print version to be released in early 2014.

"Runaway: Their Moment In Time" follows the lives of Topher and his friends Grant, Stephen, Brandon and the teen girl known as "Runaway." The group forms a car club known as The Shakers. Teens from area schools learn of this, frantically begin forming their own car clubs and racing. Runaway forms an enemy along the way, the rivalry culminating in a terrible accident that reaches its finality decades later.

Huebbe explained how her father's stories began to inspire her as a teen.

"We were driving back and we were listening to 'American Graffiti,' that was his favorite soundtrack and I heard the song 'Runaway' by Del Shannon. I started to daydream and I started to imagine me in a '57 Chevy driving and the story kept going on and on in my head," Huebbe said.

A teacher of college prep English and AP English at Glendora High School, Huebbe would spend the last 20 years slowly building upon her story.

"When I say it's been 20 years, there's all kinds of things that happen in your life, like college, you get married, you have kids, you become a professional. It got put on the back burner a lot," Huebbe said. About two years ago, a colleague of Huebbe encouraged her to finish her novel.

“Author Kathleen Cook Huebbe illustrates her firm grasp of the young adult genre as she presents a heart-racing story that is sure to echo throughout high school halls everywhere,” said Kathie McGuire, director of Brighton Publishing.

"This has been such a big deal for me. To work on something for so long and finally see it materialize into something you can actually feel with your hands," Huebbe said.

Huebbe, a Southern California native, has taught English for 18 years. She is married and has three children.

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