Plenty of children play sports, join a Scouts group or excel at music or dance lessons. Ten-year-old Natalie Tinti of Temecula has a more unusual achievement: she wrote, illustrated and published a chapter book.
"Sewing a Friendship" is about a group of 7-year-old girls who became friends with a former enemy who is 9. The characters learn to use their differences to complement each other and become friends by entering a fashion show as a team.
The book is filled with colorful drawings Natalie created of her characters, mixed in with clip art images of flowers and other bright pictures that decorate the pages.
Natalie, a fourth-grade honor student at Vintage Hills Elementary School, said she wrote the story last year while on summer vacation.
"I got the idea because I've noticed that kids have a hard time making friends and their talent is hidden. I wanted them to know it's OK to spread your feelings and to make new friends," she said.
Her mom, Olga Tinti, added: "Natalie wanted to encourage other kids to show their talents."
The Tintis self-published the book late last year, printing 3,000 large copies and 5,000 smaller paperbacks. Natalie's family helped with the effort. Her mom did much of the computer work and helped Natalie work with clip art, scanning in artwork, and finding marketing and publishing help online. Natalie's older sister, Luda Gogolushko, 22, helped with typing and editing, and brother Peter Tinti, a high school student, helped with photo illustrations.
The achievement isn't Natalie's first. She has been recognized for her artwork and academic excellence for several years. In 2004, as a 5-year-old, Natalie won first place in the poster contest at the fourth annual Artists Event hosted by Great Graphics Bella & Animal Friends of the Valleys. Also that year, she took the first-place prize in the visual arts primary division at her school for the PTA's annual Reflections contest. In 2007, her artwork was exhibited at The Promenade mall at the Youth Art Exhibition hosted by the Temecula Valley Art Council.
The achievements keep coming. Late last year, Natalie made it to the finalist round for her book under the Children's Chapter Book category in the Writer's Favorite Book Reviews and Award Contest, sponsored by Amazon.com. Last semester, she also landed on her school's honor roll for fourth- and fifth-graders.
At school, Natalie helps to promote the campus's "Kindness is Cool" campaign by writing thank-you letters to students for their acts of kindness. Natalie said she has written more than 40 such letters.
"Natalie is a gifted writer and an inspiration to authors everywhere. Her book is not only beautifully written and illustrated, but the message it portrays gives the reader a glimpse of the heart of this young author," Vintage Hills Elementary School Principal Jenniffer Carpenter wrote in an e-mail.
Natalie has made local appearances with the book to promote reading and the book's theme of friendship. She participated in a book reading for the Boys & Girls Club in Temecula in November and read her book with students at her school in December. Natalie also donated books to Toys for Tots, her school library and 29 copies to her classroom library so each classmate could read one.
