At only five years old, a British child who wrote a book has formally broken the record for being the youngest published author in history.
After selling more than 2,000 copies, Bella J. Dark received the official confirmation from Guinness this week.
Last year, the young girl from Weymouth, Dorset, surprised her family by announcing her intention to publish a book.
Her mother and father, a plasterer and cook, believed it to be’ just one of those things’ kids say. However, they are ‘very proud’ of Bella because she used her novel The Lost Cat to realize her dream.
Bella is now the Guinness World Records Title Holder, according to an email from Guinness World Records that read:
‘We are happy to inform you that your application for Youngest person to publish a book (female) has been successful.’
I simply wanted to thank everyone who has purchased my book thus far! Bella exclaimed in delight.
A cat named Snowy appears in her novel and goes on adventures before quickly learning a valuable lesson.
The book was published by Ginger Fyre Press and has been offered for sale on Amazon and other websites as a paperback or Kindle.
‘We are simply so proud of Bella and honestly can’t believe how fantastic this is,’ mother Chelsie Syme said.
She has always benefited from other people’s encouragement and enjoys reading and drawing. It all began when she told her mother she was going to write a book one day.
‘I assumed it would be just some doodle and you would say ‘wow’ like a parent,’ the speaker said. They later went to a book expo, where someone expressed an interest in publishing it.
Chelsie appreciated the safety message since it is about a cat who goes outside, gets lost, and understands she shouldn’t go outside without her mom.
With the exception of one drawing by her older sister Lacey-May, she drew all of the illustrations herself.
Bella-Jay is already considering writing further novels, and she is already working on the sequel Snowy’s Birthday Party.
She achieved her new global record, surpassing seven-year-old Abhijita Gupta, who was heralded as the youngest published author in history the previous year. The book by Bella-Jay is offered by Ginger Frye Press in the UK.