Eash Aggarwal, an Author in Our Midst

As an educator and writer, I am always proud to get students to the step of the writing process known as publishing. This could mean typing up a story and stapling the pages together or binding it into a book with illustrations. eighth-grader Eash Aggarwal did much more than that. He took his story, Paradox, and published it into an actual, full-fledged book in July of 2010. He dedicated the book to his parents, sister and all of the teachers he has had in school. So, ladies and gentlemen, we have a published author in our midst!

Divided into fourteen named chapters, Paradox tells the story of Noah, a sixth-grader who has not had such great luck lately. With a stepmom, little brother and teacher he feels are out to get him, Noah has one bad event after another happen to him. From failing some important tests in school, to getting his iPod taken away from him, to losing a key basketball game, nothing seems to be going right.

Things begin to change when Noah’s Greek grandparents come for a visit. His grandfather brings along some statues of Greek gods, from Zeus to Poseidon. One in particular, Cronus, attracts Noah’s attention when grandfather tells him it was once a rare collector’s item. Being the curious sixth grader that he is, he is unable to resist the attraction to the Cronus statue. Noah very quickly realizes that this seemingly innocent statue could possibly cure his bad luck once and for all.  How? You will just have to read Paradox to find out!

Eash has gotten wonderful reviews for Paradox. On Amazon, the book was reviewed by five different people and received five out of five stars for every one. At press time, the paperback was selling for $8.99 on Amazon, while the Kindle edition was selling for $2.99. It can also be reserved through the Montgomery County Library Association. branch hosted an author talk for him this past July.  What a thrill it must have been for him to hold court over a discussion about his book!

Paradox can be used as a wonderful discussion starting point for families. In addition to reading and talking about the book, which has a great moral, parents can show their children Eash Aggarwal’s name on the cover. Eash is not a published author living in New York City, London or Los Angeles. He goes to our local school and lives right down the street. Even if a child does not go as far in the publishing process as Eash did, he or she too can be a published author by stapling some pages together. Encourage children to think outside of the box and follow Eash’s example.