Brookfield Boy Uses Pandemic To Write Dragon Chapter Book

BROOKFIELD, WI— A Brookfield boy made good use of his time during the pandemic: He wrote a book with the encouragement of his family and teachers at the Elmbrook School District.

Thaathwik Arsha Abhilash spent his summer vacation writing "Dragon Summer," an illustrated novel that was self-published March 30 — his 10th birthday. "I really like dragons and the core elements of earth, water and fire," Thaathwik said.

He told Patch he loves dragons because they can fly and breathe fire. One of the main characters is Ash, a female dragon. He used the name Ash because fire creates ash.

In his debut book, Thaathwik sets the scene of an ordinary day that quickly develops into a story of a boy also named Thaathwik and his dragon. The duo works together to prevent the evil Shadow dragon from destroying the various dragon cities.

"A 9-year-old always wants to be the hero of their movies, stories and everything," Arsha Sophy Abhilash, Thaathwik's mom, said.

A Summer Writing Project

Arsha Sophy Abhilash said she didn't want her two sons to feel sad during the pandemic. She and her husband, Abhilash Pulakkattkuzhi, were both working at the time, and the kids were home a lot. "I wanted them to be engaged in something," she said.

The proud mom said Thaathwik is very outgoing and "not a video game guy." Thaathwik is a huge bird enthusiast and aspires to be an ornithologist. He is also an art enthusiast who loves movies, music and dance. He finds happiness in reading, drawing, painting and playing with his brother, Thadwith, his mom said.

Thaathwik's third-grade teacher, Megan Heitman at Burleigh Elementary School, stopped over to drop off some ice pops and an assignment and encouraged him to keep writing over the summer.

Teachers in the Elmbrook School District are very supportive, and Heitman knew he enjoyed reading and writing, Arsha Sophy Abhilash said.

The original concept was to write a fictional story about his plans for the summer. "I started writing, my parents looked at ... the first two chapters, and they said if I finish the whole book, they would publish it," Thaathwik said.

A Bigger Book

Thaathwik didn't have a draft of character details or a plot outline; he wrote as he went along and as ideas struck him, he said. What helped was his active imagination and thinking about inspiration from other books such as the "Harry Potter" books, he said.

Arsha Sophy Abhilash and her husband wanted their son to keep writing. The plan was to make a stapled photocopy of his book at Walgreens. But after reading the final draft, his parents changed their minds and decided to self-publish it on Amazon so it could be shared with other children.

"When we read it, we felt like it is like a 9-year-old’s imagination, and kids can correlate with that," she said. Thaathwik ended up writing 30 chapters and showed his parents the finished product.

A Helping Hand

Before publishing the book, Thaathwik 's parents sent it to professional writers in India and the United States for feedback. Both authors gave praise and said the story was good for other kids to enjoy.

Animesh Xavier in India offered to do the illustrations. Thaathwik worked with Xavier and discussed the scenes and what he thought the illustrations should look like.

Thaathwik's second-grade teacher, Carrie Indestead, helped craft the introduction, while his fourth-grade teacher, Erica Phillips, wrote the blurb for the book. "We are very grateful to the school district, which is really great," Arsha Sophy Abhilash said.

So far the young novelist is getting good reviews on Amazon for "Dragon Summer."

Thaathwik is writing his second book, "The Apocalypse: Part 1," which is about four friends who go on an apocalyptic journey.

His advice to other kids is to use their talents. "If you have a passion and talent, don't hold it back, do it," Thaathwik said.

"Dragon Summer" is available to order on Amazon.