Her record-breaking book ‘I Had An Idea’ is being showcased at Sharjah International Book Fair
Sharjah: “I want to discover children’s talents at a very young age.” These were not the words of an educational expert, but that of an 8-year-old Emirati author and publisher AlDhabi AlMheiri, a special report by Lamya Tawfik in the Khaleej Times, says.
AlDhabi’s already published work ‘I Had an Idea’ hit the stands on July 7, 2022 and has won this little author the Guinness World Records as the ‘youngest person to publish a bilingual book The book has already sold more than 1,000 copies.
She stands next to her parents in her bookstore and publishing house, Rainbow Chimney, at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) and talks about her book and her dreams.
“I have an initiative called ‘books from children to children’. The aim is to encourage children from 4 to 10 years to write either English or Arabic books. My main objective is to raise a new generation of writers,” she said.
AlDhabi credits her parents for nurturing her love for reading. “Whenever I wrote something that I learnt from a book, I would write it out and my father would frame it for me.” Her parents encouraged her to write in English and Arabic.
Her mother Mouza Al Darmaki says she began reading to AlDhabi from the time she was just six months old – mainly books about space and the universe.
“I wanted to widen her horizon from a very early age. Perhaps that’s why she came to know and remember the names of the planets from a very tiny age. At three she had started reading and by four-and-a-half years, she was already writing”, says her mother beaming with pride.
Her mother also nurtured her creative spirit saying that the hour preceding bedtime was important for them, as they spoke freely like friends.
AlDhabi’s journey as a writer started at the 2021 SIBF book fair when she attended a publishing conference with her parents. There Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), had asked if anyone had any questions and AlDhabi’s hand went up.
“I had no idea what she was going to ask and then she said: ‘How do I become something big like you’?” said her mother, Al Darmaki. She said that Sheikha Bodour then asked her to come on stage and asked her why she wanted to become something big.
“According to the mother AlDhabi had said ‘So that I can share your thoughts about publishing with the world’ It was that encounter that made her want to write her book in which she talks about her own journey with Rainbow Chimney – the bookstore that sells fun and engaging books for all children.
AlDhabi’s dream is to encourage all children – especially children with autism and children of determination to write and to express themselves so that they can tell their stories. “Children may look different from the outside but inside they’re just the same,” she said. (Rewrite David Solomon)
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