Young Milpitas authors and siblings Nyssa (10) and Atharv (13) Bagotra have written and published their first book, “Maya Brooks and the Land of Fire and Ice,” which is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle formats.
Nyssa is a 5th-grader attending Curtner Elementary School and Atharv is an 8th-grader attending Thomas Russell Middle School.
A fantasy-adventure novel set in Iceland, the book follows its main character Maya and her brother Theo through a string of challenges set in a land of elves and magic. Along their journey, the pair learns about the country’s folklore and mystical secrets while also saving their ancestors.
Nyssa said in an interview with The Milpitas Beat, “We started off with a simple idea to make something big and meaningful. And after talking and sharing ideas a lot, we chose Iceland as a setting for our story because it has really cool landscapes and history and folklore.”
Not only did they do a lot of research on Iceland, they actually got to visit the country on a family vacation. Atharv explained to The Beat how seriously elves are taken in Iceland, telling a story about an old elf rock situated in an area where they wanted to build a new road. The Icelanders hold elves in such high regard that they actually built the road around the rock.
Nyssa added, “In Iceland, 90% of the people actually believe in elves.”
Though this is their first book project, the siblings have worked as collaborators before. Atharv said, “We have worked on other projects together. We’ve done a lot of entries in the STEAM Showcase together. We’ve done some fundraisers together, and we’ve done this thing called Odyssey of the Mind.”
The duo’s book-writing process was a side-by-side endeavor. Whereas some writing teams pass the work back and forth, they worked on every page as a pair. Atharv explained, “Every part of the way, we were just both doing it together. We started off on a plain document, we displayed it on the TV screen, we both sat down, and we just went through it.”
Nodding, Nyssa said, “I remember we were staying up late editing our book.”
In the end, “Maya Brooks and the Land of Fire and Ice” totaled around 300 pages and between 50,000 and 60,000 words. It first landed on Amazon back in February.
Regarding future endeavors, Nyssa said, “We’ve had ideas for other places that we’ve visited, but we’re still discussing the ideas and we’re unsure.”
Atharv shared that they have also visited Japan, Spain, and Australia on other family vacations, so they are discussing where to send their fictional counterparts next.
As for the book’s message? Atharv stated it as follows: “You should continue believing in yourself. Maya, in the book, and her brother Theo, they faced a lot of challenges on their pathway to go reunite with the elves. They didn’t just stop after one challenge. I think the message would be to keep persevering.”
Sounding a philosophical note, Nyssa said that Maya’s actions in the book show that “The right choice is a little bit harder than the easier one.”
The pair are big fans of the “Percy Jackson” and “Harry Potter” books, and love how those stories’ authors create their own magical worlds. Likewise, they drew inspiration from those sagas’ use of suspense and cliffhangers.
“Maya Brooks and the Land of Fire and Ice” can be purchased here.
