Some of Mineola’s youngest authors are working to highlight the frequently forgotten role women have played in history.
Third-grader Valerie D’Amico and her sister, seventh-grader Julia D’Amico, co-authored and published their book, “The Forgotten Soul,” this past November. They were inspired by a competition at Valerie’s Jackson Avenue School called the Spooky Story Competition, which took place just before Halloween.
“It was this contest where you had to make a spooky story,” Valerie said. “I won first place.”
But she said she couldn’t have done it without her sister, Julia, who said she helped Valerie brainstorm and build the story.
“Valerie had the initial idea, but I helped her work through it and add details and really expand on that idea,” Julia explained.
“My sister had this idea of this forgotten girl, this ghost, and we just built the story from there,” Julia continued. “It’s about a girl who helped a town in the Revolutionary War, and then just became forgotten because she was a girl.”
The chapter book takes place on a Halloween night—but not just any Halloween night. It involves a curse that three girls have to break by fulfilling the wish of the forgotten girl from long ago.
The sisters said they were inspired to set the book against the Revolutionary War because they both loved history. They emphasized that one of the messages and motivations for the book was to highlight the fact that some people’s contributions to history aren’t always remembered, even when they should be.
“Many people have made a difference in the world, but they’re not all remembered, and they don’t all get into history books, so they become forgotten,” Julia said. “Especially females, because then the males take the credit.”
The two said they initially got so carried away writing that the story became too long for the competition
“It started out too long, because we kept on adding and adding and adding,” Valerie said. “So then we had to shorten it up a little bit, because it was too long for the competition.”
That’s when they decided the book might be meant for something bigger.
“We then decided, because the longer version was really good, we decided to make a chapter book out of that,” Julia said. “We bridged [both versions] together and just continued adding.”
They said they turned to their father, who publishes Italian poetry, and his friend for help getting the book published as well as their mother for editing assistance.
Now that they’re able to hold the book in hand, the girls said they’ve enjoyed showing their teachers, family and friends what they’ve created.
“We’re very proud to give it to friends and family and tell people, ‘This is online. This book that we have is on Amazon,’” Julia said.
“I actually gave it to my teacher for a Christmas gift, and they said it was amazing,” Valerie said. “They’re really proud of me.”
While they don’t know exactly what their future holds just yet, the sisters said they hope to keep writing.
“The Forgotten Soul” can be purchased on Amazon.
