Pattonville Heights Middle School eighth grader Eva Benson recently published her first manga novel, “Forgotten.” She is both the author and illustrator of this published work. 

“I came up with the storyline when I was eight years old and my ideas just kept spiraling until I finally decided I needed to write this down.” 

The illustrations on the pages took about nine months to complete and her goal was to publish it before she turned 13 years old.

“I made the book when I was 12 but it took several months to find the right publisher and then I was involved in picking the paper I wanted to use,” Benson said. “Mangas are usually printed on newsprint, but that wasn’t an option so I had to go with something else.”

She received help from family and friends to publish the book and was able to give a signed copy to her grandma before she passed away.

“It was really a blessing to get to show it to her because she helped fund my goal of getting it printed.”

Her books will be available for purchase soon and Benson has plans to continue working on her manga series. 

“This is just the start,” she said. “After this book, they’re going to be in a whole different dimension and it’s sort of, well, that’s kind of like a spoiler.”