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Autistic Teen Writes Basketball Inspired Children’s Book

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Keira Thompson and her children’s book, Mila and the Too Hard Hoop


MILWAUKEE (PRWEB)

15-year-old Keira Thompson loves the game of basketball. She is on the Special Olympics Wisconsin team and attends Milwaukee Bucks games often. But when schools closed and basketball practices were cancelled last spring due to the COVID pandemic, Thompson spent her unexpected free time taking online courses on how to become a children’s author, a longtime dream of hers.

“I started a class on how to write a kid’s book and I loved the teacher,” Thompson said. “Then I started thinking of ideas and things I struggled with that I could talk about.”

Naturally, Thompson focused her book, Mila and the Too Hard Hoop, on basketball. The main character, an adorable monster named Mila, struggles with not being able to make a basket. The heartwarming story aims to teach kids to never give up and to always believe in themselves.

The illustrations in the book were created by another teen with autism, Miguel Angel Rosales. He and Thompson communicated solely via Zoom meetings to bring the story to life. In what usually takes people years to accomplish, these two wrote, illustrated and self-published the book in just six months.

For Thompson, this is just the beginning of Mila’s story, and her own story as an author. She has plans to turn the book into a series and is currently looking for a publisher who can help Mila reach even more people with her important life lessons.

On April 2, the NBA celebrated World Autism Acceptance Day. The Milwaukee Bucks took this opportunity to feature Thompson and her book before they played the LA Clippers on April 1.

Mila and the Too Hard Hoop is available on Amazon. For more information, follow @MilaTheMonster1 on Twitter, @milathemonsterbook on Instagram, or @MilaTooHardHoop on Facebook. Author Keira Thompson lives with her mom and dad in Wisconsin. She loves to play basketball, swim, paint, bike and read, just like Mila. Thompson is on the autism spectrum and wants to encourage all to never give up.

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