Young author reaches for stars

NEWNAN, Ga. - At only 7-years-old, Newnan resident Jaxon Styles has become an author while chasing his dreams.     

He's part of Leap for Literacy in Atlanta, which is a nonprofit organization geared toward at-risk and low-income elementary school students, providing free books to children while promoting the importance of reading and being kind to one another.     

The founder of the organization, Stan Tucker, once an educator, shares how this program came into fruition. 

"One student who didn't have money came up to me and said, 'hey Mr.Tucker I'm not going to be able to go to the book fair because my mom doesn't have money for the book fair,'" Tucker said. "It broke my heart and at that moment I wanted to make sure a kid always had a book."     

The program has a few initiatives which include book authorship where one lucky student will get the chance to have their book professionally illustrated. 

Jaxon was one of 450 kids who got a blank book to write their stories. His book was titled, "If I Could Meet Julio Jones."  He didn't win, but his story caught the attention of Stan Tucker.

"I put myself in Jaxon's shoes," said Tucker. "If I was his age and I wrote a book about my idol how awesome would it be to meet my idol."   

The coronavirus pandemic shut down the program this year, but not Mr. Tucker's vision for his students. He's taking his program online. And, this week Jaxon will be reading his book online for the entire world to hear. But, really just one important person. His hero on the gridiron, Atlanta Falcons' Julio Jones.

When asked what it is about wide receiver Julio Jones that inspires him a very shy Jaxon quietly said, "Because he's super fast and he can catch a ball with one hand." And now this pint-sized author is hoping to catch the attention of his football hero one word at a time.