Newtown Eighth Grader Pens Book About Special Dog

A 14-year-old author from Newtown Township talked with elementary school students in Lower Southampton Wednesday about the book she penned.

Olivia Millevoi, an eighth grader at St. Andrew’s Catholic School, spoke with hundreds of Tawanka Elementary School students about the writing process and her self-published children’s book, “Do You Believe in Magic?”

The book, Millevoi explained, tells the tale of her neighbor’s black Labrador retriever, Magic, who survived a fire that destroyed their home four years ago. The lovable canine avoided the flames and heavy smoke, only to be reunited with its owners, the Roda family. The family’s other dog unfortunately did not survive the fire and succumbed to smoke inhalation.

The story of survival in the face of loss inspired Olivia to write the book.

The students paid attention as Olivia explained the work that went into writing the book and effort made with the illustrator, Stephen Marshall, to create the images to match the story.

“I wrote a lot of this book sitting on the bleachers at my brother’s basketball games,” she said.

Olivia urged the students to write based on feelings and not just try to use “fancy words” students learn during vocabulary lessons. She added that a mentor taught her while writing “Do You Believe in Magic?” how to improve her book through word use.

The book is penned from the perspective of Magic and gives readers a look inside the playful Labrador retriever’s brain.

Monica Millevoi, Olivia’s mom and a teacher at Tawanka, said her daughter picked up reading and writing early on in her childhood. Even before she could read, Olivia was attracted to books and always paging through them.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” Millevoi said of her reaction when she learned of her daughter’s intention to write a book. “She was always picking up a pencil or a crayon to write.”

“Do You Believe in Magic?” is for sale on Amazon.com and Millevoi said Olivia hopes to have it in bookstores soon.

A portion of the sales from the book will benefit the American Red Cross.