East Lyme middle school student publishes her own fantasy book

Nov. 25—EAST LYME — Nadia Lira, 11, has been drawn to fantastical-world books while she has been growing up. She said she has read the Wings of Fire and Keeper of the Lost Cities series, as well as the Percy Jackson books. Her brother Xavi, who is two years older, used to read Harry Potter novels to her when they were both younger.

Now in 6th grade at East Lyme Middle School, Nadia Lira has moved from reader to writer. She has self-published her own fantasy children's book, the 141-page "The Crystal Quest," through BookBaby, which is a book printer and publishing services provider.

It all grew out of a class assignment. When Nadia was in fourth grade at Lillie B. Haynes Elementary School, her teacher, Benjamin Conlon, told students they would each spend time every Friday in class writing a short novel. Conlon also happens to be an author, having published two books in what will be The Slingshot's Secret trilogy.

Nadia, who is the daughter of Ricardo and Tasneem Lira, dove right into the project. She said she has loved to write, even as far back as kindergarten. She said she appreciates the fact that, with writing, "there are no limits."

Conlon said that he had taught fourth grade for 13 years in Brookline, Mass., before East Lyme, and "I found that at that age, the writing tasks that they're given are often very boring and they box the kids in. It's an age when kids are very interested in all different topics that they never get to write about."

So he had them come up with an idea for their own full-length novel at the start of the year, and they worked on it weekly. Many students would get off-track or would lose interest and want to start another story.

"But Nadia legitimately worked on one story for 10 months every single Friday without looking up from her computer or her writing notebook. She just worked, and it was unbelievable. She's a very, very good writer, and very easy to teach. She had a good friend of hers who would help her along the way. It was kind of what you really hope to see as a teacher," Conlon said.

He added that Nadia is someone who wants to improve and is extremely teachable. If he gave a lesson on similes, for instance, she would include similes the next time she wrote.

She's also the first one of his students, to Conlon's knowledge, to publish the results of that project.

(Conlon, who lives in Guilford, has since left teaching and has started his own finance company. He is also working on the third installment of his trilogy.)

More of the story

In dreaming up the story for "The Crystal Quest," Nadia took some inspiration from the wooded area next to where she lives. At her house, the family often sees creatures ranging from bobcats to deer outside. In the book, some central characters are wolves (although the Liras have never seen wolves near their home).

The tale is set in a magical world in which a girl finds herself teaming with a group of wolves in the forest to search for seven crystals as they try to save the world.

Nadia was so enthusiastic about the project that, when she wasn't finished by the end of the school year, she transferred her writing onto a Google doc so she could continue working on it over the summer. It took about a year to complete "The Crystal Quest."

At some point, Ricardo told Nadia that, when she finished the book, they would find a way to publish it. He didn't have a sense of how to do that, but he talked with people and researched information online. Conlon suggested self-publishing companies, and that led the Liras to BookBaby.

Nadia's parents didn't read the book until she was done writing it. They then sent it to the BookBaby editor, and Nadia made some changes based on the editor's feedback. Ricardo read it several times after that, looking for typos and so on, and Tasneem helped Nadia fix parts that weren't clear.

"It's a process, the whole thing, going back and forth between us, the editor and publisher," Ricardo said.

Tasneem said, "We had a conversation with the editor and publisher. We didn't want to change the overall feel that a child wrote this. We made that clear from the very beginning."

The editor's feedback was more along the lines of suggesting that Nadia add some detail, delve into the characters a bit more, and not use the same words as often.

"Overall, it was a good, positive experience. And it was good for her to hear feedback from not just from her parents but from others, too," Tasneem said.

On the book's back cover, the unnamed BookBaby editor is quoted as saying, "This is a really fun book and great concept. For the author's age this is very well-written, better than many adult authors, to be honest. The vocabulary and grammar are astounding and give this editor hope for future writers everywhere. ... Hopefully, it finds its way into the hands of many young readers and shows them that kids can write great books too!!"

An example of that writing: "Storm wandered for ages and ages and ages. She felt like she was in an endless storm. Like her name. She brushed off sea glass that had stuck to her shoes. She had stared up, longing for the sky. But the trees were too tall. The mists too thick. Nobody would ever escape the place. Never."

Beyond writing

Nadia's parents are both scientists. Ricardo, who is a native of Mexico, and Tasneem, who grew up in Tanzania, both work at Pfizer, where he is an organic chemist and she is an analytical chemist.

Ricardo said he and Naseem stress the importance of education to their children. Both of the kids love to read, though their son is more into math and science than writing.

Tasneem noted that Nadia "is a busy girl. She does a lot of other things, too."

Nadia plays piano and just recently started taking modern dance classes, but the extracurricular activity she is most focused on is gymnastics. As for a career, she is interested in becoming a veterinarian.

Nadia already has plans to turn "The Crystal Quest" into a trilogy.

Ricardo said the publication side of things "was a great experience even for me, learning how to go through the whole process." He added with a laugh, "So now I'm ready for the second book."

And how did she feel when she was finally finished with the book? Nadia smiled and said succinctly: "Happy."

What: "The Crystal Quest"

Pages: 141

Tailored for: Ages 10-14, as well as young adults

Cost: $15 for paperback, $9.99 for e-book, $8.99 on Kindle

Available: At bookbaby.com and such retailers as Amazon, Barnes & Nobel