Meet the 10-year-old author behind ‘Leah and the Pumpkin’

Ellie Houston holds her book signing sign outside the New Madrid Memorial Library in New Madrid.

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Ellie Houston, a 10-year-old from Benton, has published her first book, “Leah and the Pumpkin”. This accomplishment marks a significant milestone for the young author.

Ellie found inspiration for her book from a pumpkin drawing in her room. With lots of free time and a desire to create something, she decided to write a story. The book, which took about a week to complete, was illustrated using Midjourney.

“I had a lot of free time and I didn’t really know what to do. So I just thought, ‘You know, I’ll make another book.’ So I went into my room and found a pumpkin drawing. I thought I could write about pumpkins and then it built its way up,” Ellie said.

Ellie Houston at her book signing at New Madrid Memorial Library in New Madrid.

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The story centers on friendship and adventures, drawing from Ellie’s relationships and the experiences she wants to have. The main character is a girl named Leah who is lonely and looking to make friends.

One character in the book named Kinder is based on Ellie’s best friend, Rachel, and how they met and became friends. The narrative reflects the story of her friends and the activities Ellie wants to do with her friends but can’t because of the school year and lack of time.

Ellie’s family played a crucial role in her writing journey. Her mother, Shelley, expressed pride in Ellie’s achievements and noted that the family’s storytelling activities fostered Ellie’s creativity. These activities involved making up stories together, which helped Ellie develop her narrative skills.

“We made up stories before bed. They didn’t make us, but they would help us calm down and go to sleep. So, like, they would start with a story, then we would have to go on from there. And we would take turns making up stories from each other,” Ellie said.

“Leah and the Pumpkin” is not the first story Ellie has written but it’s her favorite so far and the one she wanted published. She said she started writing when she was in kindergarten.

“When I was in, like, first grade or kindergarten, and I kept on looking at a lot of children’s books, and my parents, grandparents and brother would always read them to me and I thought, ‘Oh, they wouldn’t be too hard to make.’ I only used a couple of words because I didn’t know that much. They weren’t the best stories,” Ellie said about the start of her writing career.

The publishing journey took off when Ellie and her mom met an author at the 100-Mile Yard Sale who introduced them to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). This encounter led Ellie and her mother to explore KDP, publishing “Leah and the Pumpkin”.

“I’m very proud of her. She’s never been at a loss for words. So it doesn’t surprise me. She’s always really enjoyed reading. And she’s written lots of really good stories. This month, she had asked for it to be in a printed book. And we had looked into, you know, like you can go online to different websites, and they will print, like, one copy for you.” Shelley Houston said about the printing journey.

Ellie held a book signing event at New Madrid Memorial Library this past week, where she received significant community support. Many attendees came from Benton, and several had already purchased the book from Amazon. Ellie sold about 19 copies at the event.

Ellie plans to create a series centered around the character, Leah, with her writing skills growing as she matures. She has already started on the second book of this series.

“She’s writing the second book and I read it and I was like, ‘Ellie, this is amazing’. I’m not in writing personally, I’m a math and science person. I was reading, I was like, ‘How do you do this? This is amazing and the words in this book are really good.’ And she said, ‘Well, I am a year older. I use more descriptive words now Mom’,” Shelley said about the second book Ellie is working on.

Ellie’s accomplishment in publishing “Leah and the Pumpkin” highlights the importance of nurturing young talent. To purchase a book, go to www.amazon.com/Leah-Pumpkin-Ellie-Houston/dp/B0D5Z5GZ15/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23ZFMZN7....