Elijah tells story of courage, friendship, pride and trust

Karen and Wesley Williams is proud of their son, author Elijah Williams.

PHOTO BY: NARISSA FRASER
Karen and Wesley Williams is proud of their son, author Elijah Williams. PHOTO BY: NARISSA FRASER

WHY do crabs come out on a full moon? Elijah Williams has an idea. In his book entitled Tale of Why Crabs Come Out on Full Moon, the 12-year-old author tells the story of a blue crab’s journey, along with his best friends, to catch the moon.

Elijah has always had a love for animals, which developed from a situation he was not too happy about at the time. “Well, there was a time when my mummy took away most of my games and eventually I started watching National Geographic and it just came from there,” he told Newsday Kids.

His favourite animal is the cheetah and his favourite book series are Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hardy Boys.

He began writing his book in 2016 after his mother, Karen, asked a question on a night drive home from Point Fortin. She saw crabs on the road at the Caroni Bypass and asked him why they come out on a full moon. At first, he had no answer. But after thinking about it, the idea was born.

The cover of Tale of Why Crabs Come Out on Full Moon. PHOTOS BY NARISSA FRASER

“As a mother, you think that your child has all the best stories in the world and I felt it was a really good story. I started sending and asking other people if they thought it was a good story and they said yes and things evolved from there,” his mother said.

Every day, they would sit together to add more to the story and completed it in one month.

“I just used to talk and my mom would type it out on the computer. And she also got editors and graphic designers and she and my dad (Wesley) were the publishers,” Elijah said. The book was published by WesKay Publishing Company which was created in June by his parents.

Caricom secretary general Irwin LaRocque, left, with Elijah Williams at the Carifesta Youth Village in Port of Spain.

Apart from a fun adventure, it includes themes like courage, friendship, pride and trust. It was illustrated by Aziz Azam and Elijah said he was very happy when he saw the completed artwork, as it captured exactly what he imagined when writing the story.

He was the youngest author at the Youth Village at the recently-concluded Carifesta celebrations in Port of Spain. He said feedback was great and it was “very fun” and “good exposure.” He met several fellow authors, children and adults, as well as the minister of culture Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and Caricom secretary general Irwin LaRocque.

Culture minister Nyan Gadsby-Dolly poses with Elijah Williams, author of Tale of Why Crabs Come Out on Full Moon.

From September, he will be attending Trinity College East. Elijah said when he was at primary school he was a victim of bullying through verbal abuse and as was a bit shaken up by it, but he used swimming as a coping mechanism, which helped a lot. He recalled one incident where he was absent for a few days, and when he returned, one of his classmates said the entire class did want him to attend their school any more. But instead of letting it negatively affect him, he found the courage to ask each student if it was true—and it wasn’t. He said the situation allowed him to know who his friends really were.

“Don’t always jump to conclusions right away because sometimes people are mean and they just want to bring you down.”

Much like the book’s main character, Crab, Elijah faced a lot of challenges but continues to push through. He plans to continue the story through a series of books.

For more information visit the Facebook page Tale of Why Crabs Come Out On Full Moon.

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