Strathmore teen publishes 1st book

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Since Grade 2 Strathmore teen Danielle Hauck has wanted to be a writer, and now seven years later she can proudly say she has published her first book. 

“I think it was because I read Harry Potter. It was on the table one day and I was bored, I picked it up, started reading (and) never looked back. I mean it’s such an amazing book it inspired me,” said Hauck.

Shanna Burns, Hauck’s Language Arts teacher at Holy Cross Collegiate, helped her put the book together. Hauck isn’t sure she could have accomplished this goal so soon without Burns’ help. 

“I am so proud of Danielle’s hard work and endless hours of writing and editing, to complete her dream of publishing a novel. She truly has a talent for writing and I do not feel that ‘I Didn’t Know: A Purgatory Story’ will be her last published work,” said Burns.

“Because of Danielle’s accomplishment, many other students have come forward with dreams of publishing their fictional novels. Starting next year Holy Cross Collegiate will be holding a competition where one winning student will also have the opportunity to publish his/her book.”

Hauck’s book begins with a woman whose family died in 9/11 in the year before. She is still trying to recover from the loss and is trying to regain her life and her normalcy by getting back into work and her life. 

“But then on her way to work that day she gets into a car accident with this little girl, and she kills the little girl and she dies too,” said Hauck.

“So then they’re in purgatory and she meets the little girl and they talk. She also meets other people there and she decides that she wants to try and find her family. She goes on this big and wild adventure.”

Hauck said the idea came to her one day when she was bored and thinking of different things. When she started typing it up she was busy with sports, but other than that she was usually on the computer writing. She had hoped to one day print a book, but didn’t ever think it would be this soon. 

“Not this young, I had hoped that I would, and I had dreamt one day I would see my book in printing but I never thought it would be so soon,” said Hauck. 

Since March, when the book was released, Hauck has sold 34 copies. After spending time researching, she decided to go the self-publishing route, and her book can be bought off of Blurb at (http://www.blurb.ca/b/4165957-i-didn-t-know) for $15.