Most junior high students spend their free time playing sports, hanging out with friends, or playing video games. While Miami Trace Middle School seventh grader Breanna Keller does enjoy playing softball and running, she also has a passion for writing.

She recently completed a remarkable feat of writing and publishing a novel that is over 350 pages in length. The book is titled “The Wolves and Esta,” and is available for purchase online on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble.

The description of the book on Amazon states, “The lives of three 17-year-old girls struggling to get everything together while their worlds fall apart. Alessia, a human girl in a family household of all werewolves, will she remain human? Together with her best friend, Layla, they struggle to find their way in the world. And then there is Nyx, a magic wielder and werewolf who has trouble nipping at her heels. Explore this harrowing adventure between friends of conflict, romance, and the community of werewolves. Will all of them survive the harsh realities or ultimately fail to save their worlds?”

Keller described the book in her own words.

“It is about werewolves, partially, and there are also humans. There are a total of three parts to the novel. The first part involves a human in a family of werewolves. She doesn’t want to be human because it’s dangerous to be a human in a werewolf family, because you’re so fragile, but it’s also dangerous to become a werewolf.”

Keller began writing when she was in second grade.

“My Girl Scout leaders had an assignment where we got to write a book and that was amazing for me. That’s where I started writing and I just went from there. This story has come from my imagination, mixed with a lot of other books that I’ve read. Most of it is just something that comes from my head and then I just write it out,” she said.

Keller said that she’s written other pieces in the past, but this was her longest story by far, and the first that she published. The novel took her between three to five months to write. While she loves to write stories, she said that she has no plans to pursue writing books as a career. She plans to be an ER nurse in the future but would love to continue writing on the side.

She spoke about the process of publishing the novel.

“I got the copyright before I published it and then I published it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. We self-published, deciding not to go through a publisher this time. That could change in the future, but this time we decided to do it by ourselves. So, they have you fill out a form and then you have to wait multiple days to get it approved, and then it is ready to sell on the website,” she said.

Not only is Keller a very talented writer, she is an artist as well. She designed and drew the photo for the cover of her book. She mentioned that she has designed her own covers in the past for her non-published works.

While she is currently in the seventh grade, Keller plans to skip the eighth grade and attend Miami Trace High School as a freshman in the fall.

So, what about a sequel to this story?

“Right now, I think I’ve got around 40 pages written for the next book. I would say there’s going to be around 200 to 300 pages, if not more. It’ll take a while, probably sometime next year it will be finished but I’ve got a good start on it. I’m planning on doing two or three books for this series. There’s something that keeps popping up in my mind for a different series, so I might start on a different series once I finish this one.”