US: How an 8-year-old's handwritten novel became a major hit

The eight-year-old took almost four days to complete the book, which used 81 pages of an empty journal

FP Trending February 05, 2022 21:19:07 IST

US: How an 8-year-old's handwritten novel became a major hit

Dillon Helbig's book has become a major hit. Image credits: The New York Times

An eight-year-old boy from Boise, United States is competing with prominent authors in terms of popularity at a library. Dillon Helbig wrote a book and sneaked it into a library’s shelf around Christmas last year. The book has skyrocketed in popularity at the library and now has a long list of people waiting to read it.

Helbig wrote a children’s book during his Christmas break and wanted everyone to read it. The eight-year-old took almost four days to complete the book, which used 81 pages of an empty journal. As per reports, Helbig’s handwritten, richly illustrated tale narrates how he gets transported back in time after a shiny star atop his Christmas tree explodes. The kid titled his book - The Adventures of Dillon's Crismis.

When his grandmother took him to the Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library in Boise, Helbig silently hid the book on a shelf, hoping that someone would read it and appreciate his efforts.

Surprisingly, a series of events over the next month turned the book into one of the library's most popular titles. The book has also inspired other children to create and write their own stories.
The Library branch shared the cute incident on their Facebook page. They wrote that Helbig's book has won the 2021 Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist, a category created by the library to encourage the kid.

According to library branch manager Alex Hartman's statement to The New York Times, the book had drawn the attention of readers by the time January started. As many as 56 people were on the waiting list for the book by the end of the month. The library allows patrons to hold the book for up to one month.

According to reports, if every person on the waiting list kept Helbig's book for a month to read it, the last person on the list would have to wait more than four years.

The eight-year-old's writing was praised by Christopher Burgess, former Central Intelligence Agency officer and author. He also hailed the library for making the eight-year-old's book a part of their graphic novel section.

He also joked that the CIA was always looking to hire people like Helbig.

🕵️ I know a certain three-letter agency that is always looking for folks with skills like Dillion's 🕵️

"81-page book to his chest and passed by the librarians. Then, unbeknown to his grandmother, Dillon slipped the book onto a children’s picture-book shelf. Nobody saw him do it" pic.twitter.com/laxxJaHifj

— Christopher Burgess (@burgessct) February 1, 2022

Hailing Helbig’s writing skills, a Twitter user said people needed more such books written by children. A user said it is the best story that he has ever read.

This is flipping awesome. We need more kids like Dillon, and more books authored by kids in this world... {tips hat to Dillon} — Charles Nolan KD2HJP (@Chaznolan) February 1, 2022