An 8-year-old boy from Idaho is making waves after he secretly left a comic book he wrote at his local library so others could read it.
Dillon Helbig, a second-grader, wrote and illustrated his comic book in December, according to The Washington Post in a piece published Monday. He bound his comic in a red notebook cover and labeled it “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis by Dillon His Self.”
❣️📕 A whole lot of goodness in this piece.
Kudos to the Ada Community Library for making the book part of the graphic-novel section.“The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” “by Dillon His Self.””
Read here: https://t.co/I3bk9z31Af
(my subscription means no cost to you) pic.twitter.com/8rdTdHFF8U— Christopher Burgess (@burgessct) February 1, 2022
During a trip to the library with his grandmother, Dillon snuck away to slip his comic onto the library’s shelves, according to the Post. Later, when his mother found out the book was missing, Dillon explained he had left it at the library on purpose. “I wanted people to read it,” Dillon told Good Morning America.
Dillon’s mother called the library to let the staff know the book was not left by mistake but donated by her son. The branch manager soon entered the comic into the library’s system, making Dillon’s donation official, the Post reported. (RELATED: Single Spider-Man Comic Book Page Sells For Over $3 Million)
Word soon spread of Dillon’s passion for writing and his plan to get his book read. Now, 55 people are on the waiting list for his comic as of Jan. 29, the Post reported.
This 8-year-old boy has been getting attention after sneaking his homemade comic book, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” by “Dilion His Self,” onto his hometown’s library shelves. https://t.co/Jz4ORcFzMj pic.twitter.com/C9fq2O5iLV
— ABC News (@ABC) January 31, 2022
Dillon says he was inspired by his father, who left over 100 CDs he recorded in local stores. “My dad did this when he was a kid and kept doing it,” Dillon told to Good Morning America.
The second-grader is now working on the follow-up to his book. He’s calling it “The Jacket Eating Closet” which is based on his own experiences at school, USA Today reported.