She may not be the youngest author ever, but at six and a half with one book under her belt and a second one creating a buzz, Amani Hussaini is easily one of the most prolific young writers.
Even more astonishing is the fact that the Grade 2 student at Repton School in Dubai wrote the 24-page book, The Real Family, after hearing that her mother's friend, Virginia La Torre Jeker, was sending books to children in Sri Lanka who couldn't afford to buy any.
"I remember my mother telling me about Auntie Virginia sending her Benji books to kids in Sri Lanka," Amani tells Friday. "I told mum I wanted to write a story during my summer holidays and send it to kids who didn't have anything to read."
Amani came to admire Virginia after the Dubai-based lawyer and author gave her a copy of the book she'd written about a bird called Benji who explored Hong Kong Amani even asked Virginia to sign her book.
"When she heard about Virginia sending books to Sri Lankan kids she said, ‘I want to send books to children who can't afford to buy them,'" says Dr Aisha Saeed Hussaini, Amani's mother and director of Manzil Centre, a school for people with special needs in Sharjah. "She asked me if she could write a story, and I said, ‘Of course you can.'"
Help from mum
Amani, who was just five at the time, couldn't write by herself, so Aisha noted down the story that Amani created about a duckling called Inama. "Amani was in the ‘ducklings' class when she started school at Repton and has since identified herself as a little duckling," says Aisha. "All of Amani's stories feature a duckling who she has named Inama. This not only means ‘reward' in Urdu but is also her name, Amani, spelt backwards."
The first story Amani made up was titled A Beautiful Gift. Although this was her first story, it was not the first book she published. "The story began as an exercise in teaching her collective nouns - as in a flock of sheep or a herd of cows - which she developed into a story,'' says Aisha.
"While discussing what collective nouns were, she made up a story of groups of animals doing various activities.''
Breakout book
But when Amani decided to write a story for the underprivileged children in India and Sri Lanka, she chose to narrate a new story which she called The Real Family. This was the first book Amani had published.
The story was a prequel to A Beautiful Gift, where Inama gets separated from her duck family, ends up with a broken wing and is adopted by a couple of swans.
After a while Inama's family finds her, but she sticks with the swans as she feels they are her real family.
"I remember Amani telling me that a real family is the one you connect with through your heart. They are the ones who look after you, not just the ones who give birth to you. I was surprised to hear this coming from such a small child,'' says Aisha.
"Initially, when I wrote the story, I had Inama go back to her duck family," Amani says.
"But after writing it I thought about it and the next day decided that Inama should actually stay with her swan family and so I asked my mother to change the ending. The swans are her real family.''
Five hundred copies were printed last year and 120 were delivered to Sri Lanka, and Virginia sent more books in March this year. "The rest were distributed among our relatives and friends here and in India," Aisha says. "They liked the book and as a token of their appreciation they have made donations to the Amani Foundation, which raises money for education of underprivileged and special needs children.'' Although Amani is just six, she is extremely sensitive towards children with special needs and has been visiting the Manzil Centre, where her mother works, since she was just a year old.
The publication of her first book helped spark Amani's imagination. She came up with three other story ideas, which are in various stages of being written.
A Beautiful Gift became Amani's second book and is very special for Aisha. "It's a story about disability and about inclusion, which has always been my primary concern," says Aisha.
"It's about Inama and her friend - a fox named Lucy. She breaks a leg and is immobilised so Inama and her friends think of ways to cheer her up, and they decide to gift her something.
"Amani asked me what the gift should be. I suggested all sorts of things like flowers and toys - the usual things you give a child. She gave me a look and said, ‘Mama, she needs a wheelchair.'"
At the same time, Aisha's father had fallen and broken his leg, which left him confined to a wheelchair. "While I was extremely distraught and upset that he was immobilised, Amani's take on the injured fox and how the wheelchair was actually a liberating factor made me look at the whole issue in a new light,'' she says.
"A Beautiful Gift is a story that addresses sensitive issues from a simplistic and fresh perspective that only a child can have."
‘A collective effort'
The Real Family was illustrated by a professional artist, but Aisha decided to use the talents of children at Manzil and schools that sent children to volunteer there for A Beautiful Gift. "I though it would be appropriate if it was a collective effort between special needs children and able ones," says Aisha.
The illustrations were completed by the Manzil students along with students from The Millennium School (TMS) Dubai, Apple International School and Indian School Ajman.
"In keeping with the true spirit of inclusion in the UAE, and since Manzil's theme for 2011 to 2012 is ‘Together We Can', this book was brought together by a group of Manzil students with special needs along with their mainstream peers," says Aisha.
She is full of praise for the staff of Repton School in Dubai, The Millennium School in Dubai, GEMS Millennium in Sharjah and Manzil. "This would perhaps have taken a lot more time to realise if it wasn't for their willingness to participate," says Aisha.
The fact that this book includes input from the special needs and mainstream communities is a testament to the increasing acceptance of disability in the UAE.
The Hussaini family has printed 1,000 copies of A Beautiful Gift and the story has even been retold in Arabic by students from Manzil. The book was adapted into a musical that was performed by students at seven schools at a celebration for Manzil on April 13. Amani had a role where she performed a swan dance.
Aisha and her husband Ricky Hussaini, an investment financial consultant, are in talks with major publishers about getting their daughter's second book published.
Aisha is hoping that more children in the UAE will get to read Amani's stories. "We would like to see it translated into different languages so that the message of cooperation and compassion can reach as many children as possible," she says.
As for Amani, she's unfazed by all this attention. "I am happy the children from Sri Lanka and India got my book," she smiles. "I want to write more stories."
