8-year-old publishes books after dictating stories to dad

Milo Morris, 8, can now offer his published tales to friends and family.

Milo Morris was in the midst of doing something, perhaps it was wrestling with his stuffed animals, when he overheard his mom complaining about the book she was reading.

“I thought that I would go write a better book for her,” the eight-year-old smiled.

Although he had never written a book before, Milo, fuelled by empathy, wrote one for her.

“It’s fanfiction about Winnie the Pooh and Piglet,” Milo said.

“She liked it!”

Milo loved making it and, spurred on by the thought of what could be possible, he began to think about expanding on an original idea he’d come up with, called Kid Camp.

“It’s a camp for kids, run by kids,” Milo said. “Where they have candy feasts and go on adventures.”

Milo had already been drawing his Kid Camp characters, designing a Kid Camp movie poster, and constructing a Kid Camp card game based on the magical place for his family to play.

But now…

“I said, ‘Hey Daddy!’” Milo recalled. “Let’s write a book about Kid Camp.”

“And I was like, ‘That sounds great!’” Milo’s dad, Dave Morris, said.

“Let’s do it!”

Morris and his son raced up to his office, and Milo laid down his plan.

“I was wanting for Daddy to type it out,” Milo said. “And for me to think of the idea.”

The best ideas, it turns out, are born from bouncing.

“[Milo] jumps up and down on the couch,” Milo laughed as he explained his creative process. “And acts out a story.”

“And then [Daddy] types it out on the computer.”

Morris types out every single word faithfully, unless it doesn’t make sense.

“If you read it, you can tell it comes from the imagination of a kid,” said Morris. “It’s this wild ride of dragons and secret magical lands.”

The story was so expansive, it turned into a trilogy. Then Morris self-published the book after Milo asked if he could give it as gifts to his friends and family.

“Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa,” Milo said. “Everybody likes it.”

After Milo shared the book at a student talent show and someone posted a positive review online, a stranger requested the book and posted more praise. This caught the attention of a local manager of a national book chain, who invited Milo to sign and sell copies at their store.

“I hope they like it,” Milo said. “It really feels good.”

So good, Milo’s already bouncing around ideas for a fourth Kid Camp book. So good, he hopes you’ll be inspired to also take a creative leap and make something too.

“You think,” Milo said, as he encourages people to keep it simple. “You write it down.”

And then, the best part of all, you cuddle up with the people you love, and you share it, he said.