Michigan Second Grader Gains New Perspective After Publishing Book About Learning During COVID

(CBS DETROIT) - During the early days of the pandemic, second-grader, David Smith III, from Ypsilanti started to write a book. 

Now, he is the author and self-publisher of his own book, "Going to School is Fun, Staying Home is Too!" 

Credit: PhaShunta Hubert

The idea behind writing this book was to help other kids like himself get through the different changes of staying at home and not being able to go to school everyday, which occurred due to the pandemic.

In the book, he talks about different ways that kids can have fun at home, such as playing outside and helping parents cook food.

A year later, with the pandemic still going on, David has learned a lot from becoming an author.

"Becoming an author has taught David a lot about entrepreneurship. He loves the fact that he can come up with an idea and turn it into something physical. And from there people purchase the product," said PhaShunta Hubert, David's mother. 

Throughout the process of writing his book, David has also taught new ideas to his parents.

"David has taught us that we don't need to do much to enjoy each other. With a lot of the places he enjoys going to being closed, we found new ways to spend time with each other at home and have a great time," his father, David Smith Jr. said. "We've done everything from having a movie night where we turned our home into a movie theater, to having a virtual birthday party. There are plenty of fun things we can come up with as a family to ensure that we still have a lot of family fun," he added.

He also has taken the activities he talks about in the book and has become even more involved with them. 

Smith said, "David has been doing the activities he has listed in his book, except now he may be doing them on another level. For example, instead of just playing outside he wants to really workout outside. Instead of helping cook a little bit, he wants to do it a lot."

His mother also added how social media has played a role in the success of the book saying, "Social Media has helped with the marketing of David's book. Social media helped the book reach other places around the country. However, the majority of the support for his book has been through word of mouth. We have a lot of family members who have supported and that led to their friends and family supporting as well."

So now, the question is, will David be writing a second book?

According to his mother, that is the plan.

"He is really excited to get started on a new book! For now, we are in the planning stages and he has a few different ideas we may go with for the next book," she said.

Credit: PhaShunta Hubert

To learn more about David and his book, visit his website at https://www.dds3thekid.com.

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