Grade 7 Cloverdale student writes and publishes her first book!

Grade 7 student Jade Lof is quite possibly the youngest published author in the district's history! The 12-year-old recently published a short fiction novel called Bliss: A Daydream Away, her first book in what she hopes to become a five-part series. (Photo by Jacob Zinn)

A talented elementary student from Cloverdale is making her long-awaited literary debut – and at 12 years old, she just might be the youngest published author in Surrey Schools history!

Grade 7 student Jade Lof has published her first book, Bliss: A Daydream Away, a short fiction novel about a young girl who daydreams a magical world made of candy, and then finds herself in it!

“I started writing this book when I was nine years old, and it took three years to publish,” said Lof. “Me and writing go way back – before I learned how to write, I would draw pictures of people and characters, but my earliest memory of writing is probably when I was four or five. I just loved writing on blank pieces of paper.”

The 76-page novel follows titular protagonist Bliss Lorana, a nine-year-old girl who picks up a mysterious object in the forest that transports her to Poptous, her daydream candyland come to life. Meanwhile in another province, a girl named Connie stumbles upon the same mysterious object and ends up in Bliss’s imaginary world, where they join together on a series of challenges and adventures that signify the start of a new friendship.

“Bliss just came to me as kind of a version of myself – she’s very adventurous,” said Lof. “I felt that Bliss should have a sidekick, a best friend, so that’s how Connie came to be. They befriend all sorts of strange creatures to take down an evil villain in her childhood daydream world.”

As a passionate reader, Lof said she grew up reading books cover to cover, from dedications at the front to “about the authors” at the back, and that passion went into the publishing process of Bliss. The book looks a lot different from the first draft, as she said it went through many revisions before it was finally ready to print.

“I have the original manuscript at home and sometimes I look at it and go, ‘Hmm, that’s not in the book anymore,’” she said. “The publishing process involves a lot of revisions – you catch mistakes or think, ‘That sentence doesn’t sound so great,’ and you go back to the publisher with changes. It would be back and forth for a few months before moving on to the next stage of publishing.”

Lof actually isn't new to the publishing process – last year, she was the only Canadian student selected to be one of 27 Scholastic Kid Reporters with the international Scholastic Kids Press.

And being a young writer full of ideas, Lof said she used to have difficulty finishing writing books because she was always onto the next story. So having a physical version of her novel in her hands was a big deal and worth all the hard work to complete.

“I just remember being so excited getting that first letter saying, ‘Yes, we’re going to publish your book,’ and getting my first copy and holding it in my hands,” she said. “It felt so rewarding and I’m so grateful.”

With one book under her belt, Lof said she’s already working on a sequel and hopes to turn Bliss’s adventures into a five-part series. On the side, she’s also writing some realistic fiction and adventure novels for middle grades, and she has a few words of wisdom for any aspiring young writers who want to write and publish their own works of literature.

“Just don’t stop writing and write your heart out,” she said.

Bliss: A Daydream Away is available at bookstores everywhere.

Congratulations, Jade, on getting your first book published!