Animal mad Zach Richardson is a hit with his new book and he’s got many more planned for the future
A new author is emerging in Hull as a UK bestseller – and he’s just 10 years old. Zach Richardson has been a keen writer and artist for two years, and has become very adept at illustrations having been drawing on his iPad since he was eight. Now he’s tapped into his talents to create his first book, Zach Richardson’s Reptile Alphabet.
The book compiles reptile facts and fun rhymes, all written and illustrated by the animal enthusiast, inviting young readers to step into the amazing world of scales, tails, and fascinating creatures. The A to Z journey includes everything from the mighty Komodo dragon to the tiny Xantus leaf-toed gecko, with each page highlighting a playful rhyme and a fact file on each animal, alongside Zach’s drawings.
And just a week after it was published, the 57-page book was number one on the Amazon book charts in the amphibians and reptiles category, firing Zach’s enthusiasm to write more books. His proud mum Lucy Atkinson said: “He’s done an awesome job – and he’s already started his next book!
“It’s on Amazon and it’s done so well that it’s number one in the category of reptiles and amphibians at the minute. He is delighted.
“After I published my first book last summer he was determined to publish one too, and started on his own ideas straight away. My book was a relationship book, called Close the Distance – it’s for couples in a long distance relationship, an activity book where they pick an activity a week.
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“Since my book was published Zach has been coming to me with various ideas. It was a bit disheartening because he was coming to me with drawings but I was telling him they hadn’t been drawn in a high enough resolution, but he was undeterred and carried out.
“He’s a keen writer and an incredible little artist with his own style. He’s been drawing on his iPad for about two years now.
“He’s worked so hard since my first project to find something that worked and met the quality requirements and finally brought me a collection of facts, short rhymes and digital drawings. We put them all together on the computer and were able to submit them to publish.
“I have an IT background so I was able to collate all of his images and writing on Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) – it’s a print on demand service. And when we received the first copy it was absolutely incredible.”
Zach is surrounded by plenty of animals to inspire his work. His dad Dan Richardson runs a reptile shop in Hull called The Creature Cabin, and the family has always had lots of pets.
At the moment, they have two pet rescue dogs, a rescue cat and a crested gecko which Zach is currently looking after by himself. Zach, who goes to Anlaby primary school, said: “I wanted to write the book because I wanted to spread information and I thought it would be fun, after my mum published a book last year.
“When I found it was number one? Wow. I can’t explain that – it felt amazing. We’ve got way more on the way now, all the other animal groups.
“Animal Alphabet will be next. I just love animals. Ever since I was young I’ve had a true love for animals, all animals really – expect for spiders and other arachnids. I’m fascinated with how they feed, how they walk, what their life is life, I’ve just always wanted to learn so much about animals.”
Zach Richardson’s Reptile Alphabet is available now in paperback on Amazon, priced £8.89.