Fifth-grader Adjeoda Tekpor didn’t like to write much when he started working on an assignment for his English class at Fox Chapel Elementary in Germantown.
But by the time he had finished, he not only had completed the assignment but also developed it during six weeks of his summer vacation into a longer story that his father had published for him in late 2011 as the 70-page book, “The Chronicles of Stranger.”
(Adjeoda Tekpor) - Adjeoda Tekpor, 12, of Germantown wrote a short book about a boy with magical powers called “The Chronicles of Stranger,” which he developed from a writing assignment while a fifth-grader at Fox Chapel Elementary School.
“I didn’t like writing at the time. It was hard to put my thoughts down on paper, but it’s gotten much easier writing afterwards,” Adjeoda said.
Now 12, the A student, who also enjoys math and science, will be a seventh-grader at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown this fall.
The book, published by Xlibris Corp. in Bloomington, Ind., is for sale on a Web site named after the title and on Amazon.com.
Illustrated with some of Adjeoda’s drawings, it tells the story of a boy named Stranger who is struck by lightning and develops magical powers to fight off ancient Egyptian and Welsh demons on the road to fulfilling his destiny.
A sequel, longer than the first book, is almost finished and due for release next spring.
“I don’t want to say too much, but I can hint that the Stranger gets more powerful and that he meets some new deities along the way,” Adjeoda said.
In the meantime, Adjeoda said he knows five or six students at school who also have started to write stories.
“We’re talking about maybe starting a writing club,” he said, an idea that appeals to his father, who sees a club as a way for students to talk about books and ideas.
“I hope it encourages other kids,” said Komla Tekpor, Adjeoda’s father.
Adjeoda’s fifth-grade teacher at Fox Hill, Cynthia Weston, said she encouraged her students to write about something they were personally interested in.
“I encouraged them to do their best and go for it, to take risks,” Weston said.
“I’m very, very proud of him,” she said about her former student.
Adjeoda was born in Togo in West Africa and moved with his parents, Komla and Adjo Tekpor, to the United States when he was 2.
Komla Tekpor, an engineer, asked his son to type his story because his handwriting was small and difficult to read and because he wanted him to practice working on a computer.
But after reading the longer story, his father found self-publisher Xlibris and presented Adjeoda with a book as a way to recognize his son’s accomplishment.
“I wanted to congratulate him for the job he’s doing,” said Komla, who is impressed with his son’s diligence and concentration.
“He locked himself in his room and then came out and said, ‘Daddy, I’m finished,’ ” said his father, who adds that he did not help his son write the book.
“He’s very self-disciplined to do this without any supervision,” said his father, who also was impressed with his son’s imagination.
“I don’t know how he came up with all these ideas,” he said about Adjeoda, who also loves to read.
A fan of science fiction, including H.G. Wells, magic and the Harry Potter saga, Adjeoda also had read the “The Red Pyramid,” which taps into Egyptian mythology, and “The Snow Spider” about ancient Welsh magic.
He created Stranger, whose father is Egyptian and whose mother is Welsh. The couple, both scientists, and their family travel around the world doing experiments.
One day, their boy is hit by lightning and develops magical powers, allowing him to play tricks on kids who bully him at school because he’s different. He can create objects that fly through the air, enter minds and also fight off the demons that pursue him.
But Stranger also has help from the Egyptian sun god Ra and the Welsh goddess Don, goddess of the sky, who have a plan in mind for him as the book ends.
“It’s about 50 percent research and 50 percent my writing,” he said about his blend of fact and fiction. The book also includes a glossary and pronunciation guide to the real Welsh words that Adjeoda uses in the book.
Adjeoda said what he likes best about books about magic and science fiction is the same thing that can be said about his story and his character Stranger.
“I like the way you can feel down to earth but not feel in this world,” he said.
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