Bryan Patrick, 4, has just finished writing his first book and is now striving to become the “World’s Youngest Author” in the Guinness Book of World Records. His journey to this achievement is quite impressive and seems like something out of a storybook. Both of his parents, Eleanor and Ervin Patrick, who are educators, realized Bryan’s unique fascination with the alphabet early on when he was able to spell words like “axolotl,” a type of salamander. Eleanor noted, “He keeps both of us on our toes.”
Bryan’s love for letters spilled into all aspects of his life, from family trips to the Alphabet Museum to his superhero-themed birthday parties. He even created an alphabet garden with his parents in their backyard where each letter corresponds to a plant – a project he was passionate about. Despite still being in preschool, Bryan has already mastered skills that older children can do. Eleanor mentioned that Bryan can read fluently, knows all the letter sounds and numbers, and can even multiply and divide, which is usually taught to third graders.
His parents are trying to determine an appropriate grade level for Bryan due to his advanced abilities, but they acknowledge that most of his achievements have been self-taught. According to Eleanor, Bryan would spend every night typing out the alphabet on the computer, which eventually evolved into sentences and then into an entire book in just one month. Bryan is younger than the current record holder, Saeed Rashed AlMheiri, by just a few months, and in order to claim the title of the world’s youngest author, he must sell 1,000 copies of his book. The Patrick family is planning to host a book launch party in New Bern to help Bryan reach his goal.