They’re becoming authors at younger and younger ages these days – make that 8 or 9 years of age, to be precise.

Olympic View Elementary School third-graders held a book-signing ceremony Tuesday for their published book “Clouds – Imagination in the sky.”

Make no mistake – this is a real, bona-

fide, hard-cover book. It is on the shelf in the school library. It is listed in search records for the library system, and its creation is a story in itself.

Teacher Janet Sodano calls her students’ accomplishment “A book for everybody,” since this was one project in which everyone participated equally.

The kids enjoyed the entire process, though they differed on their favorite aspect overall.

“My favorite part was doing the pictures,” said Hayley Roberts-Turner.

“I enjoyed just working together with the other kids (to produce the final copy),” said Dylan Fairbanks.

There are 26 illustrations in “Clouds.” They run the gamut from tractors to dragons to snowmen – and everything in between.

Each picture is accompanied by a unique poem, and signed by its student author.

The school library spaces hosted the book-signing ceremony, which included everything a book-signing ceremony should have: friends and family, many of whom are active duty and were in uniform for the event, local dignitaries, including school board members, refreshments, and high spirits.

Most importantly of all, there were the books themselves:  a keepsake copy for each student.

The room hummed with excitement as the third-graders passed around their copies to audience members to sign.

One of the local dignitaries was Oak Harbor School District Superintendent Rick Schulte.

“You can just see these kids’ excitement,” remarked Schulte. “It adds an element of credibility that their book is actually housed on the library shelf.

“They can go to school and say, ‘That’s my book.’”

“We were inspired to write a book about clouds after completing a science unit study on the weather,” said Sodano.

She described what happened next as a natural outcome of their desire to become writers.

“The question before us: ‘When you look into the sky, what do you see in your mind’s eye?’ became the driving force for creating a book of our own that combined illustrations and poetry,” said Sodano.

The class participated in a writing workshop every afternoon toward their final goal, said Sodano.

Students learned the ins and outs of the writing process, from rough draft, through revision and editing, to the final copy.

Sodano credits the finished product with teaching them real-world writing skills while giving rein to their creativity.She also believes that the book project enhanced the students’ overall reading prowess.

“The concept of the writing process – how words are put together, and how poetry differs from prose – all this helps you along the road of becoming a better reader,” said Sodano.