'Ferocious reader' Abigail publishes first book at six years old

A SIX-YEAR-OLD bookworm has published her own novel after being inspired by the response to a short story she wrote at school.

Abigail Coster, from Lymington, who has already devoured texts by Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, was praised for her writing talent by her head teacher who told her: “I expect you will write a book one day.”

The Pennington Infant School pupil promptly decided not to let her tender years hold her back and started to write one – ending up with a 20-chapter novel called The Girl Who Had Adventures.

Proud mum Joanna told the A&T how Abigail has had a love of books and reading since she was tiny.

She said: “Abigail reads ferociously. It’s almost all she ever does. She wanted to learn to read as soon as she could, and her reading ability is now far beyond her years. She has consumed books like a Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield and has now started on Shakespeare.

“At school they were set a task to write a short story during lockdown. When her teacher read Abigail’s, she told her, ‘Wow that’s amazing. I wonder what is going to happen next’.

“Abigail asked me if she could continue the story. To be honest, she already had the next chapter in her head.”

Abigail carried on writing until she had finished a full 20 chapters. The book is about an unnamed little girl has magic powers, but superstitious villagers banish her to grow up in the wild.

Joanna said: “She discovers a dragon and a land she didn’t know existed. It is a very lovely story. You would never imagine it had been written by a six-year-old.

“We showed it to family and friends, including one who is a teacher and they all said we should publish it. Abigail used an inheritance from her grandmother to pay for the publishing. We are so proud of her.”

The book is available to buy by emailing Joanna via arcbooks24@aol.com or visiting the Facebook page of ARCBooks.