Off The Cuff

8 year old handwritten book now waiting list in library for years

February 4, 2022
Sezarr

8-year-old Dylan Helbig titled his book ‘The Adventures of Dylan Christmas’.

An eight-year-old boy in the US state of Idaho wrote a children’s book and hid it in a local library shelf without permission. Soon, the book became a hit among the readers and now the book has a long waiting list. Dillon Helbig, a second grader who lives in Idaho, finished writing the Christmas adventure story in his notebook in mid-December. He wanted people to read it, so he made a plan and waited for it to be done. During a visit to the library with her grandmother in her hometown of Boise, she quietly slipped the 88-page book into a children’s picture-book shelf. No one saw him do it, not even his grandmother.

Later, however, Dylan Helbig tells his mother, Susan Helbig, about it. Two days later, they went to the library but the book was missing. He called the library and urged them not to throw it away. To his surprise, the book became a hit among the readers. The Lake Hazel branch of the Ada Community Library shared the incident on their Facebook page. The book, titled “The Adventures of Dillon Chrismis”, has won the 2021 Houdini Award for Best Young Novelist, the library’s category created for him, the library said.

Library branch manager Alex Hartmann told Washington Post, “It was a sneaky act.” But the book was “very clearly a special item for us to consider getting rid of,” Mr. Hartmann said. The library has a 55-person waiting list, which allows patrons to keep the books for up to four weeks.

Dylan Helbig’s “sneaky act” has also drawn praise from Christopher Burgess, now a writer who has worked with the Central Intelligence Agency for more than 30 years. “I know a certain three-letter agency that is always looking for people with skills like Dillion’s,” Mr. Burgess said.

Many others also praised Dylan Helbig.

“This is doing amazing flips. We need more kids like Dylan, and more books written by kids in this world,” said one user.

“This is by far the best news I’ve read. 81 pages. Wow,” wrote another.

“Okay, how do I get a copy? The world needs Dylan’s book,” wrote one person on the library’s Facebook page.

Another said this story needs to “go viral” and hopes everyone is sharing it and asking their friends to share.

According to BBCDillon’s book recounts how a Christmas tree explosion sent him back to the year 1621. He titled it. The Adventures of Dylan’s Christmas

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