From the time Jake learned to speak, it was apparent he was extremely creative. He would constantly be coming up with ideas for books (we read a lot with him especially in his early years). Many times, his ideas would be loosely based on another book or movie he had seen. One morning when Jake was four, he came downstairs and said "Dad, I have an idea for a book and it's called 1 Wants to Be a Letter. It instantly caught my attention as I knew we did not read a book or watch a movie that had a common theme. So I asked him "What is the story about?" He began to tell me about the number 1 whose friends were all letters and he felt different and wanted to be like them. What kid or young adult does not feel like this at some point in his life? We talked about the ideas that eventually became this book. Many of the words came from me, but the idea and story came from the creative mind of a four year old. There is a bit of prophecy here, as Jake was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was eight, and lost his ability to walk when he was twelve. At the time of publishing, Jake is 17 and going into his senior year of high school (yes, it did take thirteen years after the story idea to get to publishing). And despite his physical challenges, he still wants to be just like everyone else.- John Marrazzo, aka Jake's Dad
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