Future bestseller ARLO'S GOT THE WRITE STUFF!

The young book awards finalist impresses with his uniquely Kiwi tales

- Fiona Terry

Illustrator Vida Kelly vividly remembers the day her teenage son Arlo asked her to read the first chapter of a book he'd started writing.

They were on holiday at Makorori, near Gisborne, and the then-14-year-old had rushed back from exploring rock pools on the beach with an idea.

"I read it and thought, 'This is really good,"" says Vida, a book designer and illustrator.

She says her son's passion for writing began at an early age.

"He'd made his first little book when he was seven, a non-fiction one about the weather, and we printed it out for him and clipped it together. Then he started with fiction."

As the books became more advanced, Arlo's dad Luke, also an artist, began binding them with the sewing machine.

"We've kept most of them and they gradually started to look a bit more professional," tells Vida, who lives with her family in Raumati South, near Paraparaumu. "We said that one day perhaps we could self-publish one for him." Vida realised that time had come when, relaxing in the holiday home, she read Arlo's introduction to the story inspired by the beach walk.

"I just knew instantly and could see how much he had matured as a writer." It took another year of writing, and feedback from friends and family, before the book, Echo, was completed.