Dillon Knows He’s a Writer

02/16/2022

In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can.
Linda Ellerbee, American journalist

“Dillon Helbig, a second-grader who lives in Idaho, wrote about a Christmas adventure on the pages of a red-cover notebook and illustrated it with colored pencils. When he finished it in mid-December, he decided he wanted to share it with other people. So much, in fact, that he hatched a plan and waited for just the right moment to pull it off.” So begins a recent article by Kellie B. Gormly in the Washington Post.

Gormly explains that when Dillon and his grandmother visited the Ada Community Library’s Lake Hazel Branch in Boise, “he held the 81-page book to his chest and passed by the librarians. Then, unbeknown to his grandmother, Dillon slipped the book onto a children’s picture-book shelf. Nobody saw him do it.”

When the staff librarians later learned what Dillon had done and read his book, they “agreed that as informal and unconventional as it was, the book met the selection criteria for the collection in that it was a high-quality story that was fun to read.” The librarians asked Dillon’s parents for permission to add his book to the library. They “enthusiastically said yes, and the book is now part of the graphic-novels section for kids, teens and adults…the lone copy of ‘The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis’ has become a book in demand.

Author Rebecca Giles would be thrilled to hear Dillon’s story. Her book, A Young Writer’s World, encourages early childhood practitioners to work with children in a way that helps them grow to see themselves as valuable writers, just as Dillon does. She asserts that “a positive experience” in the early years “sets the tone for future efforts and often leads to a desire to continue writing.”

And in the Exchange Reflections, “Writing and Literacy Outdoors,” Giles discusses new ways to encourage children’s writing, explaining that “opportunities for children’s literacy development during outdoor play is often overlooked…Providing print-related props and planned literacy activities on the playground opens a whole new world of possibilities.”

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