SUMTER, S.C. — A pandemic hobby is coming full circle for a family in Sumter. Two siblings have been working with their mother to write and illustrate two children’s books.
"It's My Birthday" is the title of 7-year-old Kylin White’s published book.
"We love to celebrate our birthdays and what better way than to write a book about birthdays?" Kylin's mother Khyra Paige laughs. "Everybody loves a birthday!"
This project has been three years in the making. During the pandemic, Khyra and her daughter Kylin started the idea when school paused.
"We were at home, doing nothing, and Kylin came to me and we were learning sight words, she was putting sentences together at the time — she was 5 — and she said she wanted to write a book," Khyra remembers. "And we just sat down, we put some ideas together."
"My mommy asked me questions," Kylin explains. "I just asked my mommy if I could make the person name and she said 'okay' and then I picked the name Koko."
She chose the letter K, which stands for Khyra, Kylin…and four-year-old Kion.
There’s also a new book that will be published soon dedicated to Kion. It’s a handwriting book, which Khyra has worked on, using her knowledge as a former first- and second-grade teacher and a current tutor.
"I love my numbers and my ABC’s," Kion tells me.
This new book is helping teach him more about counting and spelling, and his older sister is happy to see Kion follow in her footsteps.
"I like how he’s learning new words because when he gets older like me, he’s going to have to learn more harder words," Kylin shares.
Writing a book alongside her mother helped Kylin learn those words, like "good, awesome and sophisticated," which she’s using now to describe her very own book.
Kylin’s book is available on Amazon now.
Kion’s book will be published in the fall.