Assignment Turns Central Private Grads Into Published Authors with Scary Harry!

Imagination is running wild in the halls of Central Private School, and so is Scary Harry! Two recent graduates of the school, Ethan Swearingen and Ryder Mote, are the ones responsible for creating this new monster with a message.

Ethan and Ryder teamed up in their junior year to work on an English project, never imagining it would lead to them becoming published authors. The assignment was simple ­— write and illustrate an original children’s book that you would enjoy reading to children. 

Students were encouraged to use their imagination, be creative, and have fun with the project. These two young men rose to the occasion and hit one out of the park!

The book they wrote is not only entertaining, but it also powerfully delivers a positive message to readers. The story is about a young boy named Harry whose appearance causes him to be shunned and rejected by others. For this reason, Harry looks for ways to change the way he looks, only to find out that being different isn’t so bad after all. Harry finally realizes that he isn’t the one who needs to change, it’s the world that needs to celebrate the uniqueness of people (and monsters).

After presenting their project in class, the boys said they were surprised by the accolades and overwhelming support they received for their story. “We couldn’t believe all the compliments we received. Everyone was telling us how much they liked our story,” Ryder said. “Ms. McCant, our English teacher, told us our book was good enough to be published and she kept encouraging us to pursue it. We certainly never dreamed this would happen, but with the encouragement from her, our families, and others, we decided to give it a try.”

“It took a lot of work,” Ethan said. We contacted several publishers before Covenant Books made the decision to publish our book. This is really mind boggling, and we are so grateful and excited.” He said that when they started working on their project, neither dreamed they would become authors with a book for sale in major bookstores.

What an accomplishment for these young men, Central Private, and the City of Central.

Scary Harry! is now available from several outlets including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, Red Stick Reads, and Walmart. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethan is now at SLU, while Ryder is at ITI.