![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2-mystery-251x400.jpg\")
May with the help of Judy and Keith Johnson, a Manhattan Beach couple known for their work in publishing Young Adult novels.\u00a0<\/p>\nby Laura Garber\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upon awaking from a nightmare last year, Hermosa Valley Middle School student Katie Lenahan, quickly wrote down her suspenseful visions. Those notes became the outline for \u201cMystery of the Black Hole,\u201d a 96-page novel that begins with a rumor about a boy-with-no-name lost in a mysterious black hole beneath his middle school\u2019s gymnasium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 12-year-old author\u2019s first mystery novel was published in May with the help of Judy and Keith Johnson, a Manhattan Beach couple known for their work in publishing Young Adult novels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Working with the Johnsons, Lenahan said she learned to \u201calways have fun and do your best at writing and at everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The novel revolves around Katie, a character selected by \u201d\u2019Veegors\u201d to save human life. These alien-like entities, appearing as small reddish globes, are dedicated to safeguarding humanity from rogue \u201cVeegors.\u201d The rogue creatures have taken possession of Mr. Newton, Katie\u2019s\u00a0 eccentric science teacher, to exploit his seismological expertise needed to trigger \u201cthe big one\u201d and destroy the planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI related to her because I love adventure and freedom. Sometimes you have to break the rules a little,\u201d Lenahan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Themes of freedom and free will, alongside scientific concepts and school crushes make this YA novel a fun and challenging read.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked what advice Lenahan had for other young writers, she said, \u201cBelieve in yourself and do whatever your mind brings you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lenahan\u2019s goal is to get her book in the top 100 Teen and YA Sci-Fi Mystery best sellers list on Amazon. The book has received overwhelmingly positive reviews.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The book\u2019s cover, illustrated by Lenahan, shows characters Katie and Alex in front of the mysterious black hole. They aren\u2019t touching but can \u201cfeel each other\u2019s presence,\u201d Lenahan said with an air of suspense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lenahan\u2019s mother, Wendy Wang, joked that the fame of being a published author might bring a lot of pressure on her daughter.\u00a0 \u201cIs she going to respect me like the way she did before?\u201d Wang laughed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wang is hopeful her daughter\u2019s accomplishment will inspire other young authors. Wang also wrote a book in her youth, but never had the opportunity to publish it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her daughter\u2019s success came as no surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a really deep thinker. I thought she might be too young, but she was right, you should always believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMystery of the Black Hole\u201d \u00a0is available on Amazon in both print and digital. ER<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Laura Garber\u00a0 Upon awaking from a nightmare last year, Hermosa Valley Middle School student Katie Lenahan, quickly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-2297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}