CHENNAI: At the age of six, Bernice E Martin was not interested in games or tea parties. Instead, she would bury her nose in a book whenever she got a chance. Now at 12, it is no surprise to those who know her that she already has a book to her name.
Bernice was with her parents at the Chennai Book Fair in St George School on Poonamallee High Road for two reasons: her book would be on display at the fair on Sunday and she has lots of books to check off her purchase list at this year’s fair.
Published by Notion Press, her parents said she finished the book Nerdy Journals when she was nine. Now, she already has the manuscript for a sequel Clara Robert’s life in Massachusetts ready.
Her book is about a young girl who moved to Massachusetts from Idaho. Interestingly, Bernice has never been to any of these places except in her imagination.
“I’ve read so much about the US and every year some of my friends from school move to other schools while new ones join. I thought of merging both of these to form a storyline,” she said. Her parents said Bernice also took care of the cover page design and has done a total of 26 illustrations for the book. “She is very attentive in class and excels in extra curricular activities except sports,” said her father E Martin, Assistant Professor in Zoology at the Government Arts College, Nandanam.
Bernice likes detective stories the best and considers Sudha Murthy as one of her favourite authors.