Armadale youngster Henry Walton had a dream about writing a book and one day, he found himself in a meeting with his school’s head of primary talking about his first publication.
Mum Stacey Walton said Henry’s loved books since he was a baby.
“We would read to him every day, he had his favourites and by two-years-old he could recite The Hungry Caterpillar book word for word,” she said.
“We spend a lot of time at our local libraries as we can’t keep up with his love of books and this is the easiest and cheapest way for him to have access to a wide range of books.”
Now seven-years-old, Mrs Walton said Henry took every opportunity to read.
She said Henry became curious about how books made it into a library and he expressed that he wanted to have one of his own sitting on the shelf.
“So, he set to work – he spent a month planning, developing characters and the story line, then wrote the book,” she said.
“We were so impressed with his dedication to this, we used AI to generate pictures for the book and got it printed for him.”
Henry’s first book The Fish Mystery explored the world of pirate penguins.
“It’s about a pirate penguin crew who go out fishing but something very strange happens – the fish aren’t biting,” Mrs Walton said.
“Captain Cuddles and his crew have to figure out what’s going on.
“It is a fun and cheeky story with adventure and a few laughs too.”
Henry asked his parents: what next?
“We told him that the best place to start would be with his school library.”
Mrs Walton said Henry asked to meet with John Wollaston Anglican Community School (JWACS) head of primary Tracey Rogers.
“He loved that he made Mrs Rogers speechless,” she said.
“She was very proud of Henry’s achievement and was delighted to receive a signed copy for herself.”
JWACS purchased two copies of Henry’s book for the library and Mrs Rogers suggested the school could launch him as an author at the book week assembly.
“Henry felt really proud and like a real author when he had to write an invoice for the books and was paid for his copies,” Mrs Walton said.
She said Henry has read his book to two pre-primary classes, two year one classes as well as his own year two class.
“Henry was so nervous but super excited as this is why he wanted to write the book – to inspire these kids to want to read,” she said.
“He spent every night for two weeks practising reading the book to his family in preparation for class-reads.
“He loves that the students see him around school and come to talk to him about the book.”
At last Friday’s book launch, Henry dressed as Captain Cuddles.
“When he was introduced by Mrs Rogers at the assembly the pre-primary and year one classes cheered so loudly, some of the year sevens in front of me were stunned that he was only seven and achieved this,” Mrs Walton said.
“I cried the entire time he spoke while trying to film it.
“They were, of course, happy tears.
“Happy for him to be recognised and celebrated, happy that he fulfilled his dream and also so proud of how he spoke and presented himself.”
