EAST COBB - In her first self-published book, 10-year-old Maddie Siegel of east Cobb tackles a subject matter many girls, at some point, can relate to - one she has first-hand experience with.

It was two years ago that Siegel, a fifth-grader at Timber Ridge Elementary School in east Cobb, was the target of animosity by a group of girls at school, who weren't being friendly toward her. As a result, she was inspired to write a fictional story about a 15-year-old girl who faces similar behavior as to what she endured.

In "Meredith and the Mean Girls," the main character, Meredith Parker, is excited about her new school until she gets on the school bus. There, she begins a rocky journey that will take her from being the victim of teasing and pranks by four mean girls to ultimately, their friend.

Siegel, who turns 11 on Thursday, said she hopes people learn important lessons from reading the book.

"If people are being mean to you, then you have to tell somebody," she said. "And if you're mean, then there are going to be consequences."

Siegel wrote the book during summer break over a year ago. Her father, Bob Siegel, who is an unpublished writer, helped edit her book. He also wrote a few pages, but she wrote the rest of the 200-page book.

In her personal life, Siegel said a few girls at her school gave her the silent treatment and basically ignored her. Her best friend was among them.

"It made me feel pretty upset," she remembered. "I just wasn't really happy because I missed her."

Siegel said she was able to overcome the bad episode in her life by just continuing to be herself.

"I think that they just somehow started talking to me again, when my friend said that I thought that they were being kind of mean to me," Siegel said. "And then they just started talking to me again."

Her mother, Wendy Siegel, said mean-spirited behavior is unfortunately common about girls. Much of it has to do with jealously, she said. To her dismay, Wendy Siegel said the meanness has only gotten worse in recent years.

However, she said she's proud that her daughter was able to take a bad situation and turn it into something positive by writing the book.

"I think it was a healing process for her," Wendy Siegel said. "My biggest thing was to try and help her focus on the people who really were her friends."

As for Maddie Siegel, she is already working on a follow-up to her first book. She said she dreams of becoming a professional author someday.

"Meredith and the Mean Girls" is available for $9.50 on Amazon.com. More about Maddie Siegel and her book can be found on her blog at meredithandthemeangirls. wordpress. com.