Meet Nia Mya Reese of Birmingham, Alabama. Her name (pronounced nee-AH) means "purpose that is great" and fits her well. She's nine years old now, and when she's not playing with dolls, she's writing books. It all began in first grade, when her teacher asked everyone to write about something they were expert at. She felt she was expert at managing her annoying younger brother. Her essay was so insightful that her mom, Cherinita Ladd-Reese, urged her to improve it over the summer. "Work on the spelling. Work on the sentences. Work on the way it's worded," she encouraged. Nia Mya agreed to make the essay a summer project at the end of first grade. Long story short, a publisher accepted her slim book and soon it became a best-seller on Amazon's Parenting section.
The book contains universal lessons on patience, kindness and love. But the best lesson, according to the author, is to disguise learning as fun -- something she's managed to do with her entire elementary school. Nia Mya has now written a second book, and travelled across the nation doing book signings. She's been featured on the CBS Evening News. Asked how she accomplished all this, she replied, "I learned to follow my dreams."
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