Last December a group called Books4Kids came to Eden's school to tell the kids about a contest they have each year. They invite all South Dakota elementary and middle school kids to write a book and submit it to the contest. One book will be picked as the winner, and the author of that book will receive $250 and a publishing contract. The book will be published, the author will receive royalties, and the Books4Kids program will promote the book and will bring the author (either in person or through skype) into South Dakota schools to talk about reading and writing and to encourage kids to participate in the contest.
As soon as Eden heard about it she was super excited. We right away went to work trying to decide which one of her books she should enter. She writes book and poems all the time just for fun, so we took a good look at the 5-6 books we could find lying around in her room and decided to submit La Casa. This is a book she wrote and illustrated which is about the different kinds of houses people can live in and what they do in those houses. She wrote it last summer, and the very first time I read it I thought, "This is a real children's book! It's got all the right cadences and hooks, and it's a complete, finished work." Plus the drawings were super cute.
So we talked to the Soto librarian about it, and she suggested including an English translation so that it would be bilingual, giving it a better chance to win. So Eden translated the book as well. She is the author, illustrator, and translator.
Then we sent it in the third week of December and waited. About three weeks ago we found out she was a finalist, which was super exciting! But we didn't know how many finalists there were, and we did now that a lot of the other finalists were older kids (like 5th graders). I was hopeful, but not optimistic about her winning.
At the end of March I got a phone call from the Books4Kids program and they told me that Eden had been chosen as the winner! They were going to announce this at her school right after the annual 2nd grade music concert (which Eden is in because she's in 2nd grade). They wanted to let us know so that we would be sure to be there. We were sworn to secrecy.
April 4 was the 2nd grade concert. Yaya and Papu came up for the big event, although Eden thought they were just coming for the concert. A very kind friend recorded the award ceremony for us, and it was absolutely delightful. Eden is so happy and so excited, not just about having her book published, but about the idea of talking to other kids to encourage them to read and write more. Nathan and I are practically bursting with pride and feel so fortunate that we and Eden get to have this great experience. Below are pictures and a video. The announcement of Eden begins around the 5 minute mark, if you want to skip right to that. It's too bad the video doesn't show her while all the pre-talking is going on. She looked like a nervous wreck -- a pained look on her face, her hands clasped, and kind of rocking back and forth. :-)
And about a week ago, Eden was interviewed by the local news station. To see that, follow this link.
