October 12, 2022 By Carol Britton Meyer
"The Adventures of Book 15/The Five Crystals" -- a fantasy/action/adventure novel written by four Hingham students -- is hot off the press.
Out of a shared love for reading and writing, Owen Christensen, Sophia Kruzer, Casey Moriarty, and Jonathan Weiss -- who are all now in middle school -- wrote this imaginative 228-page first book in a series during more than 100 hours of recess and weekend gatherings while fifth-graders at Plymouth River School last year. Owen, Sophia, and Jonathan attend Hingham Middle School.
The story -- which was inspired by characters from other fantasy series such as Percy Jackson and Harry Potter -- centers around middle-schoolers Jacob, Charlotte, Ivy, and Greyson, who are stuck in another dimension and must locate the fabled five magical crystals to create a portal to return home.
After embarking on the quest for the five crystals, they find it is a much more difficult task than they imagined it would be. While the odds aren't great, they maintain a sense of hope to help carry them through this challenge.
This is a book about a magical world with magical characters that young -- and even older -- readers will enjoy from beginning to end.
This creative, enthusiastic group of young authors shared their thoughts about the book and the writing process with the Hingham Anchor.
Jonathan and Casey first thought about writing a book -- which they called "a random idea at first" -- and when the thought of incorporating "crystals" into the story came to Jonathan "within five minutes," it stuck. Owen and Sophia became part of the writing team shortly thereafter.
While Casey, Owen, and Sophia love to read, Jonathan said he likes to write more than he likes to read -- "with our book being the exception!"
As if writing one book together isn't enough of an accomplishment, they are already planning to write future novels in a series.
"We started the second book in the middle of writing the first one," Jonathan said, and the third book is in the planning stages. "This started out to be a book for teenagers, and we weren't even teenagers ourselves, so it became a book for kids!"
While some of their fellow students and friends thought the book would take a shorter time to create and finish, Jonathan noted that after researching the subject, the average book takes six months or more to write, so the time it took them to write theirs was "normal."
They all agree that the time spent working on the book required patience and echoed Owen in saying that the time spent writing the novel was "definitely worth the effort," including missed recesses.
The novel progressed from drafts in a handwritten manuscript to a shared Google Doc "that they relentlessly edited until each was satisfied," Owen's father, Chris Christensen told the Hingham Anchor. "These budding authors were 100 percent self-directed and displayed remarkable determination as they collaborated over a sustained period of time to accomplish their goal."
After finishing fifth-grade, Owen, Casey, Jonathan, and Sophia spent this past summer creating a cover and self-publishing through Amazon KDP -- with plans to launch "The Five Crystals" at the Oct. 23 Children's Craft Market during the Hingham Arts Walk. The cover art is by Tzipi Schindler, Jonathan's aunt. There will also be a copy of the book in the PRS library.
"This was definitely a team effort," they all agreed, with all four involved with the writing and editing.
Casey already has "the entire series mapped out." For the first book, she "especially enjoyed making this [fantasy] world come alive and describing the characters and the plot."
Sophia's favorite part of the book is the unique characters and setting, "especially the dragon on the cover," while Owen enjoyed writing and "seeing the finished product." Sophia also "loved hearing the others' ideas."
While writing the book together had its challenges, Casey said, "In the end it was worth seeing what my friends and I had created and how the story grew and developed into a book from our ideas."
The "Adventures of Book 15" in the title refers to the book that the kids in the story got pulled into while they were in the library. The book they found was in a room with 14 other books -- all of them with just a single number on the cover. When they opened the book with the "15" printed on it, they found it was a portal into a mysterious world -- and that's how the words "The Adventures of Book 15" became part of the title.
Other characters in the book include Turty the Turtle, a dragon named "Steve," and co-villains Destiny and Taga Amu.
A friend suggested the name "Destiny" as one of the characters, and Sophia thought of "Taga Amu" when she was trying to come up with a "good name and started mixing letters around!"
The 25 chapters have captivating titles such as "The Magic of the Earth Crystal," The Guardian of the Water Jewel," "Taga Amu's Revenge," and "This is Magic."
The young authors expressed appreciation to their parents for "hosting and driving us to our book club meetings and always encouraging us."
They also expressed appreciation for their fifth-grade teachers, paras, and recess monitors: Mrs. Kilban, Ms. Vella, Mrs. Harrington, Mrs. Shiel, Mrs. Rau, and Mrs. Kaulians.
Besides making its debut at the Children's Craft Market, "The Five Crystals" is available on amazon.