World's youngest published author is 4 years old
MANILA, Philippines — After a thousand copies of "The Elephant Saeed and the Bear" were sold, Guinness World Records (GWR) officially recognized the book's four-year-old author Saeed Rashed AlMheiri as the youngest published author in the world.
The children's book by the Abu Dhabi-born Saeed is about kindness and an unexpected friendship between, expectedly, an elephant and a polar bear.
"The elephant had a picnic and he saw a polar bear. He thought the bear was going to eat him but, in the end, the elephant showed kindness and said ‘Let’s have a picnic together’! Then they became friends and showed kindness to each other," Saeed said of his book.
Saeed added that he enjoyed being able to read his story out loud to his parents and friends at school. He is also a fan of mathematics and loves to solve math problems with his mother.
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The new GWR holder was actually inspired by his older sister AlDhabi, herself a former record holder for "youngest person to publish a bilingual book (female)" and "youngest person to publish a bilingual book series (female)" when she was eight years old.
"I love my sister so much and I enjoy playing with her all the time," Saeed told GWR. "We read, write, draw, and do so many activities together. I wrote my book [inspired by her] as I felt that I could have my own book too."
AlDhabi recently launched the Books from Children to Children initiative which encourages children between four and ten years old to write, illustrate, and publish books for other kids.
The siblings are already working on their next books, Saeed eager to break another record in the future.
"AlDhabi is an inspirational young lady and Saeed followed her footsteps. He is the proof that everybody is born with a talent and that talent cannot be known unless they discover it by trying things out," Saeed's parents ended.
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