Fall 2015 Edition of Inspired Magazine.pdf

WRITING
Visions of Light:
A Christmas Story
Piper C. Hawkins, 10
Grade 5
All Saints
Montgomery, OH
I’m 10 year old Piper
Hawkins and I recently
published a book called
Visions of Light: A Christmas
Story. I’m now in the 5th
grade but I have always
loved making homemade
books – I have over 400
starting from the time I was 3
years old.
In October of 2012, my mom
and I went to Books by the
Banks, a book festival at
the Cincinnati Duke Energy
Convention Center. There,
I met famous author Barney
Saltzberg. He inspired me
so much and I figured if he
could publish books, so
could I, why not?
I set a goal to write and
publish a picture book by
my 10th birthday and have
my own spot at Books by
the Banks. So I wrote lots
of stories trying to come up
with one to publish. Then,
I wrote a book about a
little girl who sees through
Santa’s glasses which show the love and light in
other people.
The idea for the book came from a conversation that
my mom and I had about bullies and terrorists. I said
that if people could SEE how they treated each other,
they couldn’t be so
mean or nasty. I dreamt
about how you could see
something like that. I
figured that you needed
something magical – like
Santa’s glasses and the
story unfolded.
For Good Media October
of 2014 and I have done
a lot of book signings,
school talks, even TV
and radio interviews! It’s
been so much fun fulfilling
my dream and we just
heard that I was accepted
to Books by the Banks
for this year! GOAL
ACHIEVED while I’m still
10 years old!
Come meet me and
our amazing Illustrator,
Kathleen Streitenberger,
on October 17th 10am
– 4pm at the Cincinnati
Duke Energy Convention
Center where we’ll be
signing copies of Visions
of Light: A Christmas
Story and will have a preview of the next book, The
Puppy Tooth Fairy.
In the meantime, keep writing, drawing, reading and
DREAM BIG!
www.readinspiredmag.org
Express Yourself 13