Summary

Octavia bought her first book in 1957 when she was ten years old. She asked the store clerk if she was allowed to enter the store because her mother had taught her that Black people might not be welcome in many public spaces. The store clerk welcomed her and she bought two books with her own money. The first book was about different breeds of horses and the second was about planets and the solar system.

Octavia always carried her pink notebook and wrote her stories on the blank pages. She was a quiet girl with few friends. She daydreamed constantly and made up stories to keep herself from being bored, writing her first novel at the age of ten about a family of magical horses. Her mother noticed how much time she was spending with her pink notebook and encouraged her to...