Young writer gets lots of encouragement from dad

“I see the question all the time: what do you want to be when you grow up? But I tell my son, that’s the wrong question. It should be: what do you want to be now? Your mind is going to keep changing as you get older. So it’s best if you try different things and experience as much as you can as you’re growing up.

“My parents were very encouraging like that with me. So I try to be the same way with my son. He runs triathlons. He does taekwondo. He plays music. He creates videos with Legos. He likes wildlife photography. So we’ve gone to Yellowstone, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Mexico, all over, and he takes pictures along the way.

“He’s always reading and writing on these road trips. And he loves writing stories. He kept at it until one day he said that he’d actually like to write a book.’ I told him, ‘If you do, I’ll help promote it.’ He started the book before the pandemic, and he finished it last year. I helped with editing, and we hired an illustrator. The book came out in April. It’s called, ‘The Prophecy of Three.’

“I’m so proud of him. I asked him, ‘Do you know how old I was when I wrote my first book?’ He said, ‘How old, 50 or 60?’ I said, ‘No, baby, I never wrote a book.’ So it’s quite an accomplishment.

“He writes for fun, and he’s really into it. But tomorrow it could be something else, which I think is great. I want him to do whatever interests him. I don’t try to influence him.

“I don’t know what he’ll end up doing in life. But for now, whatever he wants to do, I just try to be supportive and show him the way. He keeps suprising me. I hope he stays that way. I hope he keeps on surprising me with the path that he chooses for himself.”

— Armando Toledo

Ozzie Toledo, 12, is entering seventh grade at Cedar Bayou Junior School. His book is available on Barnes and Noble. The illustrator, Zach Zellars, is also from Baytown.