Vernon 10-year-old publishes book about a spooky otherworld
A ten-year-old Vernon boy just published his first book after a year working on the project alongside his dad and brother.
Cedrick Anderson’s book is called Ceddy Bones and the Terrifying Lizard and tells the story of a skeleton called Ceddy Bones, a main character based on the author himself.
“When I was young my dad called me Ceddy Bones after I broke two bones,” he said. “My brother broke one and I broke the other. I always thought the name was book worthy.”
The story follows the main character as he explores a forest where “he breaks a bone of course” and meets a lizard called Jasper. At first the lizard appears frightening with its scary appearance and scaly skin, but Ceddy Bones comes to realize the lizard is not scary at all.
“He (main character) likes to explore new places and make friends, and he has a weird sense of humour,” Cedrick said. “He realizes the lizard is a nice lizard and they become friends and he takes him home.”
The 34-page book has bright, colourful illustrations and is filled with creatures like ghosts, ghouls and zombies.
Cedrick donated a copy of the book to his school and it has created a bit of stir among his school mates.
“Kids have started calling me Ceddy Bones and have asked to be characters in my next book,” Cedrick said. “But in the next book I’m thinking of putting more family members in, we’re already developing those characters.”
The young author has a public reading at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Vernon Public Library. He dyed his hair blue to match the main character.
“I’m quite nervous, there is going to be a lot of kids there, but I think if I just read how I wrote it, it'll work.”
READ MORE: CPKC Holiday Train getting ready for cross-Canada tour with stops in Kamloops, Salmon Arm
His dad Graham Anderson is proud of his son.
“He’s been very patient during the process and has had lots of great insights of what kids like and what they want to see, along with lots of feedback for the illustrations,” he said. “It’s been such a great experience spending evenings together. Instead of reading a bedtime story, we made up our own.”
The self-published book was co-written with Cedrick's brother Deeken and illustrated by Kezia Intan and can be purchased on Amazon.
And he has merch, with hoodies are available at Cedrick’s website here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
