Of the many, many books on the shelves of the home of sisters Laila and Nooriya Sarki, "You Are A Girl Who Can Do Anything" is by far the favourite.
Laila is proving indeed she can do anything, by writing and illustrating a children's book which has been published.
The Hunter Valley Grammar School kindy student is believed to be the youngest child in Australia to have written and illustrated a published book.
Laila's mother Saira Chandio said she hopes other children will benefit from her daughter's book.
"It has a good, kind message and it is colourful and encouraging," she said.
"I feel it can make a little bit of a difference or I may be just a very excited mum," she laughed.
With the girls' father a GP, Dr Shahid Sarki, and their mother an emergency physician at Maitland Hospital, there's quite a bit of "doctor chat" around the dinner table.
"Laila is always very interested and curious about kids who are sick and in the hospital," said Dr Chandio.
"She thought with the virus around the poor kids in the hospital, a lot of things have changed and their visitors are limited, so she was like, I wish I could read a story to them and make it a little bit more comfortable for them."
In the next couple of days after this conversation the family was notified that the school was holding a story competition for Book Week, with a 200 word limit for kindergarten to year 2 students.
"I asked if she should like to write a story for the competition and the sick kids," said Dr Chandio.
And so the story of Hop Pop the Flying Unicorn was born.
"She took control. I was there to support her, help her with the spelling here and there."
Hop Pop likes rainbows, cupcakes, everything pink and wants to be a doctor when she grows up.
The colourful book is all in Laila's own handwriting - which she only started since she started kinder this year.
She has written every letter in a different coloured texta and each page has Laila's illustrations.
"It is so amazing and so colourful. The end result surprised us," said Dr Chandio.
The family approached an independent publisher, Michelle Hessings from Accentia Designs who converted Laila's artwork into book form.
Dr Chandio said she contacted the National Library of Australia and a writers association to see if there had been an author/illustrator of a children's book so young.
Laila dedicated the book to her little sister.
"She has done such an amazing job I was so impressed and so proud of her."
It has been an "interesting time" Dr Chandio explains referring to the long hours she and her husband have worked during the pandemic. The book project has been a great diversion.
"The best part for us was the end result to see how much effort she has put in, to see how beautifully she has done it all," she said.
The girls love their story books.
"We read books about many different things not just story books," said Dr Chandio.
"Their favourite books are "You Are An Amazing Girl" and "You are a girl who can do anything."
She admits the latter book backfired a little when she recently asked the girls to stop jumping on the couch, for Laila to respond: "Mumma remember... we are the girls who can do anything!"
Do you know you can subscribe to get full access to all Maitland Mercury stories? Subscribing supports us in our local news coverage. To subscribe, click here.
