Enfield students publish books before they even start high school

ENFIELD, Maine (WABI) – Two Enfield Station School students are now published authors!

“A few colleagues and I got to go to the National Literacy Conference last year in Ohio. I met Stan Tucker and his team. They have the “Share Your Story” program, which is the writing program they worked with, and “Read for Literacy,” which is the publisher that published the book. So it was just a really amazing opportunity. And I loved hearing about it and seeing what the kids could create through the program. So I brought it back. We ended up piloting it in one classroom, two classrooms last year, fell in love, so we brought it to the whole school this year. Every child K through 5,” said Enfield Station School Literacy Coach Desiree Lindsay.

Students were then asked to put their creativity to the test to write and illustrate a story.

These stories would be sorted and submitted by their teachers and certain books selected for publication.

Some were nervous about it.

“I said I would never win. If someone else was going to win something, I probably never will. That was my first thought,” said Addy Dow, a rising third-grader and author of “The Lazy Slug.”

But after they were published and got to share their story with their classmates…

“They say, ‘When is your book going to be on Amazon? When will your book be on Amazon? I will buy your book! I’ll buy your book!” Dow said.

Sixth grader and author of The Magic of Kindness Anna Mercier said, “It still doesn’t feel real. But when I imagine those kind of things, they don’t look good. But when I got to see them published, they look really good.”

They enjoy the feeling of making it a reality.

“It feels crazy that other people can read what I’ve written, and I’ve got a kick out of it,” Mercer said.

And showing others that they can do it too.

“Be confident, follow your dreams and take comfort in the belief that maybe it will happen,” Dow said.

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