Last August, 11-year-old Carter Sneed was sitting outside of the library where her book club meets when her mom received an email from New York Times best-selling author Adam Rubin. It had taken two months for her daughter to write and submit a story to Rubin to potentially be a part of his upcoming collection of children’s stories and, now, Sally Sciaroni was going to see if Carter had made the cut.
By the time they were done reading the email, the two sat in giddy, disbelief––Rubin had reached out to notify them Carter’s submission was going to be one of the six stories included in his new book “The Human Kaboom,” which was published on March 5.
“It still doesn't feel real,” Carter said. “It’s just like, ‘Here’s my name in print. Okay. Now what?’”
Carter, who is a fifth-grader at Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis - South, has since been a part of two local book signings and recently had a feature written about her by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, according to Carter, one of the best parts of the experience has been how people at GSA have expressed their support.
“I think it is especially nice that my classmates bought books as well because I don’t really know them as well (as her best friends),” Carter said.
Carter and the rest of her family have always had a knack for expressing themselves through art and storytelling. Carter has previously won two writing competitions at school, including one where she had to create and illustrate a Dr. Seuss character. Her grandmother was a cupcake decorator while her grandfather enjoys writing poems.
With storytelling in her DNA, no one in Carter’s family was shocked her creativity came through in the story submitted to Rubin. Carter’s tale is centered around a girl, Lily, and her dog, Hank, who both end up becoming superheroes. They use their powers to stave off a red velvet cake monster who threatens parts of Europe. When asked how she came up with the idea, Carter paused and said she, “doesn’t even know” and that “it just comes to my mind.”
“We come from an artistic family and her dad is a goofball creative too,” Sciaroni said. “It’s not a surprise that creativity is something that’s within her.”
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Carter is also a member of the Concept Young Scholars Program and was able to get two points for it in the book report section. To learn more about CYSP, click here.