Highlighting: “How We Wrote This Book (Best Brothers Forever),” by Albie Schetina and Ben Schetina, with Erik Schetina (editor). Independently published. 2024. Paperback. 75 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8879125924.
Two local grade-school students accomplished this month what many adults can only aspire to: they wrote and published their own book. Ben and Albie Schetina, students in first and second grades at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus, were searching for a way to make some money. They tried making and selling lemonade, thought about shoveling snow in the winter or creating their own video games, and or even selling Pokemon cards on eBay, but nothing seemed like it would really work.
At the same time, the boys’ parents were looking for ways to get them to disengage from technology. They spoke with elementary school principal Rabbi Schwersenki, who suggested that they introduce the boys to graphic novels to spark their interest in reading. The idea was a huge hit and every night before bed the boys started plowing through books from the Teaneck Library.
Then the kids came up with an amazing idea: Why not write their own book?
Though it seemed like a huge task, the boys went for it. These 6- and 7-year-olds worked with their father for months, coming up with a story and writing and editing the chapters. To their parents’ delight, “Can we write the book” became their nightly request at home, occasionally even more frequently than “Can we have our iPads?” They printed out their chapters every week and started reading and editing them at night. Eventually, they even had their mom read a few chapters to a group of their friends when they came over for a Shabbos, and everyone laughed and liked it.
Once the kids got most of the story written, they started to think about how to publish the book and finally settled on self-publishing on Amazon. After their dad spent a lot of late nights formatting the text and creating the cover and artwork, it was finally done.
They settled on a title and figuring that one book would not be enough, they decided right away they needed a series name. So they called their series “Best Brothers Forever,” and named the first book, you guessed it, “How We Wrote This Book.” The most exciting part of the process was the day the first proofs of the finished book showed up at their doorstep. The next morning, they brought copies to school to show their friends and teachers, and everyone was excited to read a book written by their own students and classmates.
“How We Wrote This Book (Best Brothers Forever)” is now available on Amazon Books and the kids are advertising it through word-of-mouth and their website, bestbrothersforever.com. They’re also planning on taking the book to local book fairs and bookstores and hope to see “100 Million Copies in Print” on their book cover in the near future.
In a world where technology often dominates children’s leisure time, Ben and Albie’s story serves as a reminder of the power of imagination and determination. With their boundless creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, these young authors are proving that age is no barrier to achieving their dreams.
