Titan's First Author Event: He Read It Twice

The day Titan became an author out loud.

For a long time, “author” was a word on a book cover. On Saturday, it became something my son did — out loud, in a room full of people, twice.

Titan had his first author event at Cover to Cover Children's Books in Upper Arlington, and I'm still not fully over it.

He read it. Then he read it again.

We planned for one reading. But people kept arriving — some a little late, some who'd never heard of Titan until that morning, a few who saw him online and just… showed up. The room filled. And when Maryan, who hosted us, saw more families still coming through the door, she looked at Titan and basically said: read it again.

So he did. My 8-year-old read his book, I Can, front to back — and then, for a whole new group of people, read the entire thing a second time. Not because anyone made him. Because he wanted to. Because he was having the time of his life.

I watched him hold his own book out to a room, in his own voice, saying the words he wrote. “I am a young king. I am powerful. I am proud.” “Being brave doesn't mean you're not scared — it means you do it anyway.” He wrote those words. And there he was, standing in front of strangers, living them.

What he did when he finished

After the first reading, he danced. Just a little burst of joy — pure, unscripted, “I did it” happiness. I caught it on camera and I'll have it forever.

Then something happened that I'll never forget. After the second reading, he started walking up to people — kids and grown-ups he'd never met — and asking their names. My son, an autistic 8-year-old, felt so safe and so proud in that room that he went out and introduced himself to the world. That's not a small thing for us. That's everything.

And when the kids started asking him to sign their books? Man. Watching my son sign his name for other children who looked up to him — I don't have the words. So I'll just say it plainly: I have never been prouder.

Thank you, Cover to Cover

None of this happens without Cover to Cover.

It started weeks ago, when we walked in and Titan looked up at the owner, Bryan, and said, “Hi, I'm Titan. I wrote this book. Can I sell it here?” Bryan didn't skip a beat. He talked to Titan like an author from the very first word — before he knew his story, before he knew anything. He just saw a kid with a book and treated him like he mattered. That “yes” gave Titan his first real event, his first stage, his first taste of what he can become.

And Maryan — Maryan ran it. She helped us set up, ran the book signings, kept everything flowing, and made the call to let Titan read a second time when the room kept growing. She made a nervous first-time author family feel like we belonged there. She made Titan feel like the star he was that day.

To everyone at Cover to Cover: thank you for making room for him. For believing in an 8-year-old before you had any reason to. You didn't just host an event — you gave my son a memory, and me one too.

This is just the beginning

Titan is a young king who wrote a book about everything he can do. On Saturday, he stood in a room and proved it — twice.

And we're just getting started.