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MIDDLEBOURNE, W. Va.–After two successful adult mystery novels that take place in the state, Tyler County native and author Storm Young is back with three up and coming children’s books.
Young, author of Amazon’s best-seller’s ‘The Pen Pal’ and ‘The Final Secret: A West Virginia Mystery’, has now published three kid’s stories to Amazon, all of which she said are also seeing some success.
Her first children’s book, ‘The Flower Princess,’ recently hit #1 on the site. Young said it was inspired by her daughter who was running around the house with a pot full of flowers, claiming they talk to her and deeming herself The Flower Princess.
Young’s second book, ‘Because Someone Cared,’ ranked #2, and it’s about a little girl who cuts her hair to give to another girl who has cancer.
Finally, Young said her third book ‘Felix the Frog Wants a Dog,’ is about a frog who wants a dog but doesn’t understand why he can’t have one. She said it also hit #1 in new releases, and that it teaches kids about the importance of caring for pets and finding the right pet for them.
Young said she made the decision to launch a mass-release of the books, and she said she is grateful for the success they have gotten.
“I am so thankful, I have had some people come up to me and actually recognize me from my books,” Young said. “It honestly just feels like a dream come true, and I’m thankful for anybody who grabs a book, gets a copy, reads it to any little kid, or if they just want to read it for themselves.”
Young’s very first book published in 2022 is an adult mystery novel known as ‘The Pen Pal.’ It takes place in West Virginia and Alaska, both places where Young has lived.
Her second mystery published shortly after is ‘The Final Secret,’ where in the novel the main character travels to Young’s hometown of Tyler County.
Young said while she plans to continue writing mystery books down the road, she said she was inspired to add some more traditional types of children’s books to her repertoir, as well.
“Of course, like I said I have a daughter, and I just wanted to make sure there were books out there that still told an important story, and has some kind of lesson that goes along with them,” she said.
Young went on to say that she believes some modern kid’s books seem to lack the impactful messages many may remember from their own childhoods.
“Whenever you look at books on the market, there are some that have that and then there are some that don’t, but I wanted to make sure I was able to put a little new twist on the stories,” said Young.
According to Young’s bio on her website, she won the Ann Kathyrn Flagg Artist Award in 2022, and was a finalist for best author in West Virginia. In addition, Young won second place in the Mid-Atlantic Author’s Society Competition in the Mystery Category.