My Dog Tags Are Not A Fashion Statement

An American teenager spends a year in Heidelberg, Germany when her Army officer father is stationed there in 1956. This Catholic convent school girl meets German culture, rock and roll, boys, and the Cold War head on in a whirlwind experience that teaches her a lot about life, love and herself.

This is a first-person memoir of a fourteen-year-old girl who had been going to all-girl Catholic convent schools for the past seven years. When her Army father received orders to the U. S. Army Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany in June of 1956, she is hurled into a different world that is both foreign and frightening. In a short, whirlwind year, she moves from school uniforms and nuns to a rock and roll culture and boys, transplanted into a strict military enclave in Germany. She finds herself coping with a new language, new rules of social engagement, new friends, first love, the remains of the World War and the omni-present specter of the Cold War turning hot. The year transforms her from tomboy to young woman, and the experience leaves a lasting impression on her future.

Mary Schaller was born in Washington, DC. She received her Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts from the University of San Diego. Before her marriage, she worked in the movie industry at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City, CA. She is both an Army Brat and a Navy Wife, and as such, she has traveled and lived in many countries. She is a multi published author. Her four plays are published by Dramatic Publishing Co. of Woodstock, IL and her plays have been performed all over the United States as well as in Canada, England and Australia. She has published ten romance historical novels for Harlequin Ltd. under the pen name of Tori Phillips. Her titles appear in nineteen foreign countries and in thirteen languages. As of 2014, she has sold over two million novels world wide. She is also the author of three non-fiction history books: a Civil War memoir published by Thomas Publications of Gettysburg, PA and two books published by the University of South Carolina Press. She currently lives in Burke, VA with her husband of 49 years, Martin Schaller. They have two children and three grandchildren. Mary likes to travel, read and ice skate, though not all at the same time.