Library Adds Young Author’s Work To Its Collection

BOURNE- Most first graders who are just beginning to learn to read do not self-publish their own books. Patrick K. Sweeney, 6, however, is the exception to that rule.
During the past few months, the Gray Gables resident, son of Monica A. and Patrick Sweeney, has written and illustrated more than eight books. He then brought them into the Jonathan Bourne Public Library to share with others.
Working primarily in marker, with some portions of the covers done in crayon, Patrick started with the story of a lonely cat who finally makes a friend.
His words and pictures tell the story of how that one friendship attracted more and more feline friends for the little cat.
By the time Patrick reached Cat Book Number Eight, the cat and his friends not only had a house, they also went to school on the school bus together.
The cats also rode on a train. A book about trains was written later in the summer, along with at least one about dogs.
In a real life story that occurred during the last school year, Jelly Bean, a Gumby-like creature Patrick liked to play with, was thrown out of the school bus window. That incident turned into fodder for another summer book.
Jelly Bean was the subject of a roadside search and was, indeed, recovered, both in fiction and in real life.
The author began writing his first book in April. His mother said he just started working on that first book without any prompting from anyone.
Beginning with words he already could recognize and spell, Patrick expanded his working vocabulary, sounding out words and writing down his best approximation of the spelling.
In the vast majority of the cases, the meaning of his words is crystal clear to the reader, even if the spelling is not conventional.
All of the books, written and illustrated on unlined 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper, have a back and a front cover, and are bound with staples and tape. As he added to his literary repertoire, he found stickers that say “New” and added those to the cover.
Once his books were completed to his satisfaction, Patrick’s mother said, he wanted to take them to the library so others could read them.
Children’s library assistant Tracy Johnson was among the adults at the library to whom Patrick showed his books. Ms. Johnson was very impressed. The library’s response to Patrick’s authorship was wonderful, Mrs. Sweeney said. Patrick’s books were put out on display for a period of time, she said.
Last week, Patrick became a first grader at James F. Peebles Elementary School.
On Friday, a school holiday, Patrick and his younger sister Sarah, who has not as yet started school, were in the library. While Sarah selected books to check out, Patrick shared his own.
Asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, continuing to write books took a back seat to wanting to live on a farm, a place, presumably, where all of those cats and kittens, and a few dogs, would be right at home.