ABOUT THE BOOK
“A timely, feel-good tale of learning to accept oneself and others.” ―Kirkus
“Engaging. The heartfelt core of Virtually Me is the awkward, funny, and incomparable essence of being truly human.” ―Foreword ReviewsA mysterious package. A new school. A chance to be someone new.
A new virtual reality school where students get a fresh start.The pandemic was rough on everyone, especially since school went from being a fun place where you could hang out with your friends to a bunch of heads in small rectangles all trying to talk at once. For Bradley, Edelle, Hunter, Jasper, and Keiko, that’s about to change.
A mysterious box arrives at each of their houses, and they’re invited to attend a virtual school. More than just being online, they’ll be able to create an avatar of themselves and interact with their friends and other classmates in real time using VR headsets.
For each of them, that presents an opportunity to become someone they’re not, or someone they haven’t been. For Bradley, it’s a chance to come out of a self-imposed shell. Edelle hopes everyone will see her for who she really is, not just for how she looks. Hunter is looking forward to pretending he’s still the person he was last year. Jasper wants to get over past assumptions. And for Keiko, it’ll allow her to disappear into the crowd.
For all of them, it’s a chance to see just how much they’ve assumed about each other in the past and maybe an opportunity to become friends.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Life Is What It's Called - What are the major themes in the book and how do they relate to middle grade readers?
Chad Morris - The story focuses on three kids who choose to go to a virtual school during a pandemic. Bradley is an overweight, Kpop fan, who loves to dance, but goes to virtual school because he hasn’t had friends in years and figures out that in the virtual world he doesn’t have to look like himself. It’s his chance to reinvent himself. I think we’ve all wanted that. There’s something really appealing about it.
Edelle goes because her mom makes her. In her previous school there was a website where boys ranked how pretty the girls were and Edelle was consistently in the top 5. And she knew how to use social media to keep herself there. But her mom thinks it’s all gone too far and makes Edelle go with an avatar that is far from top 5 pretty. That’s also a theme. What if those who look really good, had to experience a different life? How would they do? What would they learn?
And then there is Hunter, that star lacrosse player who chooses virtual school for a secret reason. His avatar looks just like him and he’s determined to win over virtual school like he did his last school. Plus, he’s determined to find Edelle, having absolutely no idea, she’s the girl he talks to everyday, and he isn’t interested in at all.
The book really asks interesting questions: What if the awkward kid no longer looked awkward? Would it change the way you think about him? What if the pretty girl was no longer pretty? Would you still want to talk to her? How important is the way we look? Who would we be friends with if looks didn’t matter at all?
Plus, it has minor themes of different ways kids dealt with the pandemic. And I think kids want to think and talk about that.
Life Is What It's Called - What will readers enjoy most about this book?
Chad Morris - There’s a lot to like. There are funny characters, interesting situations, mistaken identities, a virtual game tournament, and the chance to reinvent ourselves. I think it’s a quick entertaining read with a lot of laughs and a lot of heart.
Life Is What It's Called - What inspired you to write this book?
Chad Morris - I’ve thought about how we treat people differently when we look different. And, how we often work so hard to appear the best way possible, especially online. Combine that with a fascination with virtual reality and just having gone through the pandemic and we had our inspiration. Virtual reality is so cool and we thought it was a better alternative to just zooming in meetings. It could really work as a school.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you see this book being used in the classroom? and at home?
Chad Morris - Though the characters are fun and funny, the book is filled with interesting questions we might ask ourselves. What would we do? How might we be overlooking amazing people now because of their appearance? How might we be focused too much on how we look? I think kids will love it for the story, but deal with some interesting themes along the way that teachers and parents will love.
Life Is What It's Called - Why will middle-grader readers relate to a virtual world?
Chad Morris - Virtual worlds are so inventive and immersive. They allow us to experience what we can’t in real life. And yet, in this virtual world, it’s enough like real life to have a familiar, this-could-be-me feeling. Add that to the fact that, these days, so many of us spend a lot of time in virtual or at least digital worlds and get both the good and bad from that.
Life Is What It's Called - What sets this book apart from other middle grade novels on the market?
Chad Morris - Honestly, I don’t know of anything like it. Pandemic and a virtual school. I think it’s timely, fresh, entertaining, and interesting.
Life Is What It's Called - What are the major themes in the book and how do they relate to middle grade readers?
Chad Morris - The story focuses on three kids who choose to go to a virtual school during a pandemic. Bradley is an overweight, Kpop fan, who loves to dance, but goes to virtual school because he hasn’t had friends in years and figures out that in the virtual world he doesn’t have to look like himself. It’s his chance to reinvent himself. I think we’ve all wanted that. There’s something really appealing about it.
Edelle goes because her mom makes her. In her previous school there was a website where boys ranked how pretty the girls were and Edelle was consistently in the top 5. And she knew how to use social media to keep herself there. But her mom thinks it’s all gone too far and makes Edelle go with an avatar that is far from top 5 pretty. That’s also a theme. What if those who look really good, had to experience a different life? How would they do? What would they learn?
And then there is Hunter, that star lacrosse player who chooses virtual school for a secret reason. His avatar looks just like him and he’s determined to win over virtual school like he did his last school. Plus, he’s determined to find Edelle, having absolutely no idea, she’s the girl he talks to everyday, and he isn’t interested in at all.
The book really asks interesting questions: What if the awkward kid no longer looked awkward? Would it change the way you think about him? What if the pretty girl was no longer pretty? Would you still want to talk to her? How important is the way we look? Who would we be friends with if looks didn’t matter at all?
Plus, it has minor themes of different ways kids dealt with the pandemic. And I think kids want to think and talk about that.
Life Is What It's Called - What will readers enjoy most about this book?
Chad Morris - There’s a lot to like. There are funny characters, interesting situations, mistaken identities, a virtual game tournament, and the chance to reinvent ourselves. I think it’s a quick entertaining read with a lot of laughs and a lot of heart.
Life Is What It's Called - What inspired you to write this book?
Chad Morris - I’ve thought about how we treat people differently when we look different. And, how we often work so hard to appear the best way possible, especially online. Combine that with a fascination with virtual reality and just having gone through the pandemic and we had our inspiration. Virtual reality is so cool and we thought it was a better alternative to just zooming in meetings. It could really work as a school.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you see this book being used in the classroom? and at home?
Chad Morris - Though the characters are fun and funny, the book is filled with interesting questions we might ask ourselves. What would we do? How might we be overlooking amazing people now because of their appearance? How might we be focused too much on how we look? I think kids will love it for the story, but deal with some interesting themes along the way that teachers and parents will love.
Life Is What It's Called - Why will middle-grader readers relate to a virtual world?
Chad Morris - Virtual worlds are so inventive and immersive. They allow us to experience what we can’t in real life. And yet, in this virtual world, it’s enough like real life to have a familiar, this-could-be-me feeling. Add that to the fact that, these days, so many of us spend a lot of time in virtual or at least digital worlds and get both the good and bad from that.
Life Is What It's Called - What sets this book apart from other middle grade novels on the market?
Chad Morris - Honestly, I don’t know of anything like it. Pandemic and a virtual school. I think it’s timely, fresh, entertaining, and interesting.
Life Is What It's Called - What did you learn from writing this book and what do you want your readers to learn from it?
Chad Morris - In the actual writing, we learned more grit and determination. We’ve written several books, won awards, and had some decent success. Some people might think we no longer struggle as we try to write books. But the first draft of this book was riddled with significant problems we were pretty blind to. After feedback from the publisher, it needed an overhaul. We took a good look at it, rewrote it making the world better. But even then, we had to rewrite the ending again. Even successful authors can get it wrong and need to start over and try again. We feel the story is all the better for it.
We also really enjoyed playing with those themes. It caused me to really think about how I might overlook others. It also had me thinking about my attitudes toward the digital world and how I and others portray ourselves on social media. I hope readers learn to really try to look at a whole person, to get to know them, to avoid snap judgments, and make some true friends. And give that kid who is alone a chance. He or she just might become the best friend you’ve ever had.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you want readers to know about you as an author?
Chad Morris - Authors are just people. Shelly and I love all sorts of things that come out in this book. I like virtual games (I got Beat Saber for Christmas) and sports (Go Utah Jazz!). Shelly loves K-pop (She has a BTS poster up in our house) and dancing. And we love to make up stories. Different parts of us come out in our different books. If you have any desire to tell your stories we really hope that you take the time to write them down. Nobody else will be able to tell your story like you can.
And for those who only wish to read, read on! Readers grow in ways that nonreaders never will. We hope you never stop.
Chad Morris - In the actual writing, we learned more grit and determination. We’ve written several books, won awards, and had some decent success. Some people might think we no longer struggle as we try to write books. But the first draft of this book was riddled with significant problems we were pretty blind to. After feedback from the publisher, it needed an overhaul. We took a good look at it, rewrote it making the world better. But even then, we had to rewrite the ending again. Even successful authors can get it wrong and need to start over and try again. We feel the story is all the better for it.
We also really enjoyed playing with those themes. It caused me to really think about how I might overlook others. It also had me thinking about my attitudes toward the digital world and how I and others portray ourselves on social media. I hope readers learn to really try to look at a whole person, to get to know them, to avoid snap judgments, and make some true friends. And give that kid who is alone a chance. He or she just might become the best friend you’ve ever had.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you want readers to know about you as an author?
Chad Morris - Authors are just people. Shelly and I love all sorts of things that come out in this book. I like virtual games (I got Beat Saber for Christmas) and sports (Go Utah Jazz!). Shelly loves K-pop (She has a BTS poster up in our house) and dancing. And we love to make up stories. Different parts of us come out in our different books. If you have any desire to tell your stories we really hope that you take the time to write them down. Nobody else will be able to tell your story like you can.
And for those who only wish to read, read on! Readers grow in ways that nonreaders never will. We hope you never stop.
REVIEW
Initially when I read the premise of the book, I was a little skeptical and wasn't sure about reviewing it. After hearing about a fiction book that my son read with virtual reality in it for a book report, that didn't have that great of a message...I realized that kids wanted books on virtual reality. Kids are interested in the virtual world with the new technology and games that are coming out. I wasn't sure if I would like Virtually Me, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked the messaging and themes in this book. It's something that I think every preteen, teen, and even adult should read. It hits on the importance on being yourself and not worrying about your appearance to others. Each of the characters come from different backgrounds and groups, but most of them struggle with being themselves and putting too much pressure on themselves or others around them. The author shows what each of the characters are like in their own home or comfort zone and how they then project themselves in the virtual world. The character are likeable and relatable. A reader can probably identify with at least one of the main characters. I felt like it was a quality book. Meaning, that it was well written, well-developed, had a message for the readers and something that readers could relate to. It's something that you want on your shelves and parents will want their kids to read. The story was easy-to-read and had a great pacing. The author does a good job at describing the characters, the scenes and the action. It's a book I hope that my kids will read and internalize the messages for themselves. I would highly recommend this book. To learn more, click here.
Please note that I received a free copy of this book, however, this is my honest opinion. This post contains affiliate links that help support this blog.
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