East Texas fifth grader writes, publishes book now available on Amazon

Published 5:35 am Friday, April 21, 2023

A Rusk ISD fifth grader has put pen to paper to write and publish a book that is now available on Amazon.

Dylan Starkey, 11, said he simply wrote the book, titled “Powers,” to share a story he had during his downtime.

“So, it’s basically about this kid and he touches this artifact. He gets powers from it, but it’s evil so it tries to destroy the city and so he has to destroy it,” he said. “I don’t know, I just wanted to do it in my free time. I just wanted to write a book to show a story that I had.”

On Amazon, the book’s description reads, “When Eric and his friends stumble upon a construction site, what they find will unleash amazing power. Follow them on this epic adventure to save their city.”

Mom, Christie Starkey who is a teacher, said she was excited her son chose to do something academic in his free time.

“I was really excited that he was interested in doing an academic activity in his free time. As a teacher it’s always fun when a student finds a positive outlet for their creativity, so getting to watch my son become passionate about writing was an awesome experience,” she said. “He had written a small story about his friends and gaming last year and I put it together in a little booklet for him to share with his friends. It was only a few pages long, and that’s what I expected when he told me he wanted to write a story this time.”

“When he came to me with this well thought out story consisting of multiple chapters, I was floored,” Starkey said.

Starkey explained when her son asked if he could get the book published she was on board but how no idea how to navigate the process.

“He asked if we could publish his story and I immediately said yes, even though I had no clue how to actually accomplish that task,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to support this new hobby. Luckily, after looking online I found it was an attainable goal.”

“Getting the first proofs of his book was a bit surreal. I was so proud to see him follow through on his goal of publishing a book and sharing his story,” Starkey added.

Rusk Intermediate School plans to hopefully celebrate the accomplishment with a book signing before school lets out for summer and dedicate a space in the library to students who want to pursue writing, according to school librarian Hope Oliver.

“Dylan’s book will soon be available in our school library to be checked out by Dylan’s peers,” she said. “Next year, I plan to have a whole section dedicated to any of our students that want to pursue writing their own stories.”

“It amazes me that a student of Dylan’s age, dedicated himself to accomplish something like this,” Oliver said. “I am so proud of his hard work and creativity. I cannot wait to see what he comes out with next.”

Dylan said this isn’t the end of his writing career and hopes to continue with longer books and series.

“I plan to make more books and make maybe a little bit longer ones; to make more series of books,” he said. “There’s probably going to be some more. I know there’s going to be some more books coming soon.”

For more information on Powers, visit the book’s Amazon page.