Senior Aveline Bowling is competing in the Educators Rising National Book Writing Conference and Competition in Orlando, Florida, at the end of June.
According to their website, Educators Rising is an organization that prepares prospective educators for the field. At the conference in Orlando, they host many competitions, including some for lesson plans and children’s literature.
The book that Bowling wrote and created, “Miera & the Missing Paints,” follows Miera, an earthworm who finds artistic inspiration at a museum. She sets off on an adventure to get the paints she needs for her masterpiece.
Bowling joined the competition because she wanted to write a book for her four-year-old “godsister.”
“I wanted to create a book I knew she’d love,” Bowling said.
Bowling called the book “a love letter to creativity, friendship, and the little moments that make life colorful.”
In order to help her book be successful in the competition, Bowling recruited Topeka High librarian Tonya Foster as her editor.
Foster was excited to help Bowling with the book and wanted to encourage a budding writer.
“Writers, especially budding ones, need encouragement,” Foster said. “I felt like I could make suggestions that would make her story stronger.”
Foster was impressed with the complexity of the book, especially since Bowling was only a beginner writer.
“Since her book is interactive, she showed me the pop-up parts and I asked to see other parts closer up, since we were zooming,” Foster said. “Then she read the book to me again, and I asked lots of questions about the ‘Easter eggs’ in her book. They were intriguing and tied to her story and her other interests. This feature is unusual for a beginning writer, and surprised me with its complexity.”
Bowling was excited to go to the national conference this year for the competition.
“I was really excited that I earned the chance to compete in nationals, but I’m also just a bit anxious,” Bowling said.
In order to qualify for the national competition, Bowling’s book won the preliminary round.
“I was not surprised she won at all [and qualified for nationals],” Foster said. “Her story is fun, she did her own illustrations, and she included fun details in her illustrations that make the reader and the judges engage with the story on a deeper level.”
