Posted on Feb 6, 2022
This 8-year-old's book is a hit at his library. He offers advice for aspiring authors
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https://www.npr.org/2022/02/05/ [login to see] /this-8-year-old-is-boise-idahos-hottest-new-author
A boy finds himself magically transported to the North Pole. He's chased by a moose into a time portal that transports him back to 1621, where he joins the first Thanksgiving in colonial America.
Just when things can't get any crazier ... the boy is eaten by a giant turkey.
The latest Amazon bestseller? Nope — but it is the hottest commodity of the Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library in Boise, Idaho. And it's the brainchild of 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, a second-grader who loves to read, draw and write.
Dillon has been flexing his creative muscles in storybook form since he was about 6. But recently he felt that the audience for his fiction shouldn't be limited to just mom and dad.
A boy finds himself magically transported to the North Pole. He's chased by a moose into a time portal that transports him back to 1621, where he joins the first Thanksgiving in colonial America.
Just when things can't get any crazier ... the boy is eaten by a giant turkey.
The latest Amazon bestseller? Nope — but it is the hottest commodity of the Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library in Boise, Idaho. And it's the brainchild of 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, a second-grader who loves to read, draw and write.
Dillon has been flexing his creative muscles in storybook form since he was about 6. But recently he felt that the audience for his fiction shouldn't be limited to just mom and dad.
This 8-year-old's book is a hit at his library. He offers advice for aspiring authors
Posted from npr.org
Reading
Boise
Children
Publishing
Stories
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."How Dillon snuck his book into the hearts of local readers
So, after he handwrote his latest story during Christmas break — The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis by Dillon Helbig 'His Self' (as it appears on the cover) — he hatched a plan to slip the book onto the shelves of the local library.
From a distance, the 81-page hardbound burgundy notebook looks just enough like a normal library book that Dillon felt he could sneak it in without much hassle. On a recent trip to the library with his grandmother, he put his plan into action.
The Helbig Family
"I covered this part with my hand and the rest with my body, so it looks like a normal library book," he said. "And I ran in and put it on one of the shelves — and then read a book. So I didn't look suspicious."
Dillon concocted the plan on his own, without telling his parents. Only later that night did his mother Susan ask where the book was. "He said he left it there at the library," Susan said.
When Susan called the library to see if they had put it in the lost and found — or worse, thrown it away — she learned that her fears were unfounded.
Dillon Helbig's advice for aspiring authors
Step one: "Think about what you're going to write."
Step two: "Pick up the pencil."
Step three: "Draw what your mind is thinking of."
Step four: "Make it into a library book."
Step five: "Sneak into the library and put it on the shelf."
Step six: "Don't look suspicious."
"It was clear to us that this was just a very special item," said Alex Hartman, a librarian and the branch manager of Lake Hazel."...
..."How Dillon snuck his book into the hearts of local readers
So, after he handwrote his latest story during Christmas break — The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis by Dillon Helbig 'His Self' (as it appears on the cover) — he hatched a plan to slip the book onto the shelves of the local library.
From a distance, the 81-page hardbound burgundy notebook looks just enough like a normal library book that Dillon felt he could sneak it in without much hassle. On a recent trip to the library with his grandmother, he put his plan into action.
The Helbig Family
"I covered this part with my hand and the rest with my body, so it looks like a normal library book," he said. "And I ran in and put it on one of the shelves — and then read a book. So I didn't look suspicious."
Dillon concocted the plan on his own, without telling his parents. Only later that night did his mother Susan ask where the book was. "He said he left it there at the library," Susan said.
When Susan called the library to see if they had put it in the lost and found — or worse, thrown it away — she learned that her fears were unfounded.
Dillon Helbig's advice for aspiring authors
Step one: "Think about what you're going to write."
Step two: "Pick up the pencil."
Step three: "Draw what your mind is thinking of."
Step four: "Make it into a library book."
Step five: "Sneak into the library and put it on the shelf."
Step six: "Don't look suspicious."
"It was clear to us that this was just a very special item," said Alex Hartman, a librarian and the branch manager of Lake Hazel."...
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