Can I get on this kid’s waitlist?

This story is just delightful, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. This is about 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, a second-grader who lives in Boise, Idaho, who wrote about a Christmas adventure which he titled, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis.” He signed it, “by Dillon His Self.”

On the pages of a red-cover spiral notebook, Dillon wrote and illustrated his story with colored pencils. When he finished his project, he wanted to share it with others, so, all on his own, Dillon hatched a plan that he kept secret and waited for just the perfect time to pull it off.

A few days later, Dillon went to the Ada Community Library Lake Hazel Branch in Boise, Idaho with his grandmother. He walked right past the librarian as he tightly held his 81-page book to his chest, and unbeknownst to his grandmother or any library personnel, Dillon placed his book on the shelf with children’s picture books. Nobody saw him do it.

He later confessed to his mother, Susan Helbig, that he had placed his book on a shelf in the library with other picture books, undetected. Without permission. That was the part that bothered him later. “It was naughty-ish,” Dillon said.

When he and his mother returned to the library about two days later, Dillon led his mother to the spot where he left the notebook, and it was not there. His mother talked with the librarian about whether anyone had found it and requested that they please not throw it away.

Branch manager Alex Hartman, while laughing, said it was quite a sneaky act. And he assured Dillon and his mother that, no, they had not thrown the book away. In fact, several of the library workers had read Dillon’s book, and they all found it very entertaining! In the story, Dillon describes his adventures of putting an exploding star on his Christmas tree and being catapulted back to the first Thanksgiving and the North Pole.

Hartman had also read the book to his 6-year-old son, Cruzen, who giggled and said it was one of the funniest books he’d ever known.

Staff librarians who read Dillon’s book agreed that as informal and unconventional as it was, the book definitely met the selection criteria in that it was a high-quality story that was fun to read. That led Hartman to ask Dillon (and his parents) for permission to tack a bar code onto the book and formally add it to the library’s collection.

Dillon and his parents were thrilled with the librarians’ willingness to encourage Dillon and happy for Dillon that his book is officially—not sneakily!—entered into the library’s graphic-novels section for kids, teens and adults. The library even gave Dillon its first Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist, a category the library created for him, named after the library’s owl mascot.

Of course stories like this don’t happen quietly. A television station in Boise interviewed Dillon and reported on his little book caper, and after that, area residents were calling the library to add themselves to a waiting list to check out the book. Within a couple days after the story aired on local TV, there was a 55-person waitlist. The branch manager, Alex Hartman, said, “We’re just

The branch manager, Alex Hartman, said, “We’re just hoping that children find inspiration to write their own stories and share those with other people.”

Dillon shared some breaking news of his own for his readers: He was working on a sequel to the “Crismis” book, which would end with a home visit from the Grinch and, eventually, revenge on the Christmas killjoy. In it, Dillon’s dog, Rusty, would have a starring role in the story. Dillon was also writing a different book about a closet that eats up jackets. Who knows... by now, Dillon might have his own shelf, filled with his illustrated stories!

How many young writers and illustrators do we have here who could be featured in our own library? Come on, kiddos! I bet there’s room on a shelf for your stories!