Ten year old from Saint John, N.B., publishes first book

10-year-old author Richard Akindeji just released his first book, and has plans for more.

Richard Akindeji is like most 10-year-olds. He loves sports, music and spending time with friends.

He also loves reading and writing and he’s channeled that passion into his first book “Navigating Through Life: Frill’s Story” which is now available on Amazon.

“I was never supposed to become an author, it was just a project” said Akindeji, who was just nine years old when he started writing the book.

He says a lot of work went into his first publication, and he is proud of all the compliments he has received.

“I saw my dad one day, he was writing an email to his boss and when I came in, I saw all his work,” he said. “I was really amazed and I said, ‘I want to do something like that to show him.’

Akindeji said he worked on the book during his summer vacation and presented it to his parents.

“They were shocked and they said, ‘we can publish this and make this a book.’”

With help from the publishing company, The Publishing Pad, his book hit the shelves in early 2026. It is only available on Amazon, but Akindeji is working with local retailers like The Write Cup Bookstore Café and he encourages people to reach out if they’d like to add his book to their shelves.

The story is about Frill Storm, from Fredericton, who has a goal to get a good job and become an engineer but pivots to become a paramedic. In school he meets his new best friend Jim. The duo go on to work at the same hospital.

“They had smooth sailing until some issues happened emotionally with family,” says Akindeji. “When that happens, they have to get each other’s trust back and friendship back, and they even get special missions.”

One of those missions includes a trip to Montreal, where the duo make more friends and overcome challenges.Akindeji says three people were the biggest inspiration for him. The first was his father, who taught him to let his imagination grow. The second was his friend Felix. Their EMS conversation during recess planted the seeds for the story. The third was his former grade four teacher at Seaside Park Elementary School, Madam Boyce.

“She told me if you ever write a book I’d like to be your first customer,” Akindeji says. “When she said that I just had a thought like, well, I want to see if I can do that.”

He says it was a fond memory when his school celebrated his publication.

More celebrations could be on the horizon. The young author is working on four more books, including part two of Frill’s story.

“I just spin a wheel and whatever project it comes on I just write about it for maybe 30 minutes, 20 minutes,” he says. “When I’m done, I just take a break. Maybe I sometimes add eleven other minutes just because sometimes there’s a flow in my brain and when the time’s up, you just want to keep going.”

Akindeji says he hopes to publish his next book before the end of the year but he hopes his first book teaches people about strength, responsibility and friendship.

“There’s a lot of things you can learn from it, but the main thing is that when life throws struggles at you, you can’t do anything about it,” says Akindeji. “The only thing you can do is control how you react to it.”

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