It is difficult to write and illustrate a book, even a children’s book. Keeping motivation to work on drafts upon drafts, and also meticulously editing and drawing pictures is not as easy as some might think. Balancing these responsibilities with the college admission process and the already busy life of a teenager, is near impossible. Despite all the obstacles in her way, Zoe Kozina, a senior at New Trier, published her book, Your Beautiful Mind, in September of 2023. 

Any task first starts with the motivation behind that, and Kozina’s passion for writing began in her freshman year of high school, during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most noticeable things to Sara Gries, her freshman English teacher, was her clear passion.

 “I met Zoe in an unconventional way: on Zoom during COVID. But I do remember how attentive she was in my virtual classroom, smiling, nodding, coming out of mute to answer a question, and because that was such a brutal way to teach, we as teachers needed students like Zoe.”

There was energy to be found, despite the lethargy brought on by COVID-19. Online Zoom classes were not the most conducive to academic success or capturing attention, but still Kozina stuck out for her attentiveness. But that energy needed to be refined, and that’s exactly what Gries did, according to Kozina. 

“Reading for me was always based on tests and wasn’t enjoyable to me, until my freshman year. I had a really great English teacher, and she was so passionate about English, so passionate about writing. She saw that I was sometimes scared to participate in class. She kept encouraging me, and her love for the subject wore off on me.”

The mentorship from Gries and the effort that Kozina put in began to pay off later in the year according to Gries. She began to notice improvements in Kozina’s writing.

“Then as the year went on, she was such a thoughtful contributor to our class discussions on literature and worked incredibly hard on her writing. She asked great questions, and I answered them—I hope—in a nurturing way,” Gries said. 

After starting to read voraciously, Kozina naturally transitioned into writing. She describes her early works as “bits and pieces” of her thoughts being jotted down on paper. However, one thing did separate her from other amateur writers: Kozina knew she wanted to write a book. 

“My goal was always to write a book at some point. I didn’t know that it was going to be a children’s book, I always pictured myself writing a novel. I knew I wanted to write about learning disabilities, and it’s easier to do that in a children’s book rather than a full novel,” Kozina said. 

With the goal in place, Kozina began to plan how to write and illustrate a children’s book. She planned to do both by herself, but as she wasn’t exactly the best writer, Kozina improvised. Turning to Canva, and using the already drawn images and characters there, she began to familiarize herself with the software. 

The next step was learning how to write in the style of a children’s book. Kozina says she reread children’s books to emulate them and had her mom, a K-8 teacher, read her drafts in order to make sure that students could read it. 

After Kozina had a draft she felt was ready to publish, she took a more unorthodox route. Since going the traditional route of finding a publisher and having them edit a draft and send back the revised copy would take a lot of valuable time, Kozina decided to self-publish using Kindle Direct Publishing, in order to publish this book her senior year. 

“I actually was at school, in silent study, and it was like KDP had published your book, and I was like oh my God! Then I saw it was on Amazon, it was really cool,” Kozina said. 

Her writing means more to her than just another accomplishment on her resume. Kozina describes her love for writing as a result of the shyness she developed from the stigma around her learning disability. 

“Writing was a way to work through my thoughts and work through things even [though] I was afraid to voice, as having a learning disability meant I was afraid to participate in class, so having writing as an outlet to share my voice was really helpful and almost sacred.”

This story was originally published on New Trier News on March 13, 2024.