Erik Badali, 6th grade

The Portal

Elysian Charter School, Newark, NJ

The Portal is a story about a teen named Troy who accidentally gets sucked into a portal and appears in a different world. Illustrating was my favorite part of the process because I love art. I spent a lot of time mixing and creating my paint because I wanted every single shade and color to be vibrant and pop out. Filling in all the small spaces with paint carefully was complicated, so I had to be extra careful. Many of the names in my story are from Greek myths, because I wanted to make my story seem like a tale of something unreal. The character Atlas in my story was based on the mischievous messenger god Hermes. My goal for this book project was to be submitted as a finalist to the Morgan Library. I was extra careful not to make mistakes that would jeopardize my chances. I’m very grateful that I got the chance to compete in this project.