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 has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.