Sarah Rose and Paro Anand (L) : (Photo courtesy: Anusha Sundaram)

NEW DELHI: Sarah Rose , a 9-year-old Grade V student, on Tuesday joined the growing list of children who are turning authors at a young age - when her first book "A very naughty dragon" co-authored with Paro Anand , one of India's top writers for children and young adults, was launched at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2020.

For Sarah, reading and writing have been a way of life. The idea for her first book was conceived almost a year ago, when Paro Anand, impressed with Sarah's enthusiasm for storytelling and books, agreed to partner with her.

This happened at a book launch, which young Sarah used to attend frequently with her mother. This was the start of Sarah's journey as an author. Once the project got a nod from the publisher, she worked very hard, researched extensively and coordinated regularly with Paro Anand to discuss and develop the story.

Several children and teenagers have successfully written books in recent years and got them published. Keshav Mohta's "The Red Rings of Friendship", Neeha Gupta's book on alien on Earth, Akshat's "Tram of Trims, Zulebi, Good Things in Small Packs", Kashvee Barjatiya's "Lost in the Woods" are some of the works by the young enthusiasts

Sarah's mother Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is happy for the young author and had a word of special praise for her. "Sarah made a huge effort to traslate a song, conceived by Paro Anand, from English to Indonesian language Bahasa," said Jaya.

Paro appreciated the fact that Sarah was never intimidated and would always have probing questions regarding the work, Jaya added.

