Special to The American
Gracious Massaquoi, a fourth grade student in Miss Gray’s class at Oak Hill Elementary, started reading at a very early age, and by the time she was in second grade she was reading fourth and fifth grade books and ready to write.
“I read a lot of books that made my imagination go into overdrive,” said Gracious Massaquoi. So at the age of 7, Massaquoi sat down and began to type. Soon, her first book, My Sister and Her Big Fat Mouth, was ready to be published.
This story, like all of Massaquoi‘s books, addresses serious issues facing families from the perspective of a child. From building relationships with siblings to accepting and then welcoming a new step parent into the family, her stories resolve issues in a fun and light-hearted manner that all children can understand.
Massaquoi‘s second book, Alice the Teenager can be found on lulu.com, and her third book The Day My Teacher Got Married, will be available soon. In the meantime, Massaquoi continues writing and hopes to make her books into movies that she would direct.
Concentrating on school is another priority for Massaquoi, “I like going to this school because my teachers motivate me. Last year I created a science project which then the class wrote about and collected data. We won a 1st place ribbon!”
To ensure that Massaquoi and her fellow classmates are well-rounded students, teachers at Oak Hill Elementary (in the St. Louis Public Schools district) work every day to create fun and challenging assignments. This year, in addition to Massaquoi’s favorite subjects like reading and writing, she is learning algebra and states of matter and measurements in science.
It is hard work, but Massaquoi doesn’t mind. “I am always on the honor roll,” she said. “I love that!”
