This summer, Great Neck resident and young author Madeleine Chin published her first book, Protector Stones. Chin is currently in the sixth grade at Great Neck South Middle School.
Chin’s fantasy novel follows Leine Kung, an 11-year-old girl, who goes to meet her long-lost grandmother when she notices odd things happening.
“Leine finds her world turned upside down when she and her best friend are suddenly transported into a magical world,” Chin said. According to the book’s description, “Leine soon finds out that this glowing, vibrant world is named Orlzia, and it is being threatened by an evil villain—none other than her own grandmother. Then, in a blink of an eye, Leine and her newfound friends are dropped into a dangerous quest, one that could end with deadly consequences.”
Leine and her friends realize they are destined to save the world and to do that, they need to collect the five protector stones and summon the last stone that has turned Leine’s grandmother evil.
Chin created a magical world in which her characters balance friendship, family, hard work, and dedication on their journey to save Orlzia.
Chin got the idea for her novel in the fourth grade when her mother, Margaret, gave her a writing prompt book. One afternoon, when Chin was at home working on the writing prompt book, she came across a prompt that piqued her interest. It read, ‘I always thought Fairy Godmothers were supposed to be nice and caring, but whenever I see my fairy godmother, I plan on running away as fast as I can.’
“I liked that prompt because it provided a different way of looking at fairy godmothers, but I wanted to change it because that was a prompt. So Fairy Godmothers became evil, and the rest of my book just followed after that,” said Chin.
At the beginning of fifth grade, Chin began working on her novel. It took about a year for Chin to write the story, which was published in August of 2023.
“When I was writing Protector Stones, I would daydream about publishing my book and feeling like I’m actually an author now. This was my dream, and now it was real,” said Chin. “After a year of writing, I finally just like put those words on a computer, and then from the computer to be printed on pages. The day I published, it felt too good to be true.”
Now that Chin has published Protector Stones, she’s working on her second book.
“So far, I have about 27,000 words, and I’m still working on it,” said Chin. “It’s about my life of dance, you could say. I started dancing at a very young age and went through many struggles. I’m trying to give myself a challenge and write a realistic fiction story instead of fantasy.”
Chin shared that the book she is currently working on is told in the first person point of view, as opposed to the third person point of view in which Protector Stones was written in. “It’s a whole different challenge for me,” said Chin.
Chin’s passion for writing has stemmed from her love of reading. She shared that some of her favorite books include the Harry Potter series and, more recently, The Hunger Games series. In addition to reading and writing, Chin is part of the CYO basketball team and plays the violin.
To celebrate Chin’s novel, Protector Stones, the Great Neck Public Library is hosting an author’s event with Chin. The Great Neck Library event is on Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. in the Main Library Children’s Room (159 Bayview Ave.). No registration is required. Open to children of all ages with their adult. For more information about the event, please contact the Great Neck Library Children’s Department at 516-466-8055 x247 or email [email protected]
