September 03, 2008
www.northfulton.com
Many fathers might wonder what their Princeton-educated daughter was doing in a middle school cafeteria attired in a satin vampire cape wearing wax fangs, but John Kogler, father of author Jennifer Anne Kogler, has no such question.
After all, he's the one who put her there.
Drafted last spring by his daughter to help her promote her new middle grade fantasy novel "The Otherworldlies," released by HarperCollins earlier this summer, his job quickly expanded to that of school scheduler, driver, personal assistant and general factotum.
The tour so far has taken the father/daughter duo to cafeterias, libraries, gyms and auditoriums at 45 middle schools in 33 cities in five states.
Locally, the young author and her father were at Hopewell Middle School in Milton and Autrey Mill Middle School in Johns Creek.
"I couldn't do it without him," said Kogler of her father, "he takes care of all the details."
Garnering rave reviews for both her appearances and her book from the more than 25,000 students and librarians to whom she's spoken thus far, Kogler said she finds the greatest reward comes from interactions with her target readers.
"The kids are great," she said, "they ask such smart questions and there's always at least one who says, 'You've really inspired me to want to be a writer.'"
"The Otherworldlies," Kogler's second novel, is a vampire-themed book that tells the story of a middle school girl and her twin brother who try to unravel a centuries old secret, putting them at the mercy of warring vampire sects.
Kogler's first novel, "Ruby Tuesday" began as her Senior Thesis at Princeton.
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