Kaleena McQueen

By MONIQUE STAMPS

Sentinel Staff Writer

     Kaleena McQueen, District Administrator for Non-Traditional Programs at Hillsborough County Public Schools, has written a children’s book about bullying. Titled How To Become Bullyproof, the book explores young Titan as he and his friends deal with bullying.

       McQueen is from Broward County but was raised in Haines City. She graduated from the University of Central Florida for both undergraduate and graduate school.

   McQueen spent over 10 years in Orange County in exceptional education. After reconnecting with her now husband, she moved to Tampa.

     She currently supports all non-traditional schools, including career centers, alternative schools, and schools for children with profound disabilities. Her area also includes the educational aspect of youth detention and Falkenburg Jail.

    McQueen has always loved to write. In high school, she wrote a student column for the Lakeland Ledger.

    “In 2016, my father was being treated for lung cancer. I was teasing him about being so confident. My father was a very dapper and intelligent man. He said that he wasn’t always this way. He had been bullied as a child. It moved me and I kept that memory.”

    McQueen’s father passed away, but she treasured his story of overcoming bullying,

   “I sent the short story to an editor who encouraged me to expand the story to a full book. It took me three years to get back to her, but the editor was still enthusiastic about the project.”

    The book explores the bullying of a middle school student and his father.

    “Titan is afraid of going back to school after the summer because of a bully who has targeted him and his friends.

     “Titan talks to his father about it, who goes to the school. Titan and his father come up with a plan for Big Bully Ben.”

   McQueen lives in Tampa with her husband, DeWitt Jones, and two children, Khalind and Dakota.

      The book is currently on book sites in the United Kingdom, Australia, Demark, and Canada. It can be purchased through Amazon Worldwide in all countries that receive Amazon orders.

     To purchase How To Become Bullyproof in the USA, visit one of these sites:

Amazon – https://a.co/d/12d9GJj

 Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-become-bully-proof-kaleena-mcqueen/1145643603?ean=9780228843832

Walmart 

https://www.walmart.com/search?q=9780228843832