News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Jaxtyn Palmer is pictured holding up a book he likes in the Hinks Elementary library. Palmer was recently published in Kaleidoscope, a young authors journal sponsored by the Michigan Reading Association.

ALPENA — A young writer had his first story published, and he is a second grader at Hinks Elementary.

Jaxtyn Palmer recently found out that his writing piece about grasslands was published in the 2025-2026 edition of Kaleidoscope, a prestigious annual young authors journal sponsored by the Michigan Reading Association (MRA). It celebrates outstanding K-12 writers across the state by selecting only the top handful of student pieces for publication each year.

One piece of student writing can be submitted from each school for a chance at publication in Kaleidoscope. The manuscript can be in any writing genre.

“The Michigan Reading Association would like to raise awareness of our student awards we present,” the submission form for this year’s Kaleidoscope publication read. “We look to collect writing pieces from young authors from across the state of Michigan. We invite you to submit one story from your school so we may publish more young authors this year! We believe this is a wonderful way to celebrate and encourage our students and their passion for writing.”

It is an incredible honor for Palmer’s work to be featured in Kaleidoscope at such a young age, a press release from Alpena Public Schools stated.

Palmer said when he found out his writing was picked to be in Kaleidoscope he felt good.

He said he received a medal as a reward as well as a copy of Kaleidoscope with his story in it, along with the stories of young writers from across Michigan.

In his writing for Kaleidoscope, he wrote about grasslands. The animals that live there are zebras and wild buffalos, Palmer said. He thinks that zebras are cool animals.

When asked who inspires him to write, he said his teacher, Jennifer Sklba does. He said she is really nice. He also likes “everything” about his school.

Palmer said he likes writing about animals and that his favorite animal is a shark.

“They have lots of teeth,” he said, when asked what he likes about sharks.

He wants to continue writing in the future and said he likes reading as well. His favorite books are the Magic Tree House series, and he has read a number of them.

For more information visit https://michiganreading.org/Kaleidoscope.