Book that 8-year-old author hid at his local library is a hit

Dillon Helbig doesn't need a book deal, publicist, or marketing team — the 8-year-old self-published one copy of his 81-page illustrated book, The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis, slipped it onto a shelf at his local library, and now has people across the country clamoring to check it out.

Dillon finished the book in mid-December, and did something that was "naughty-ish," he told The Washington Post; during a visit to the Ada Community Library's Lake Hazel Branch in Boise, he left his tome on a shelf in the children's section. A few days later, he told his mom, Susan Helbig, what he did, and when she couldn't find the book where Dillon left it, she called the library and asked if anyone had found it.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.