Mom inspired youngster to write award-winning story

While sitting in the back seat of his mom's car, Shan Reddy decided there could be only one explanation for how his mother could know everything he was doing behind her back.

Shan decided she was an alien.

Thanks to the game Shan and his mother, Tushina, played as she drove him to The Meadows School, Shan wrote and entered his story "I Think My Mom is an Alien" in the 13th annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.

Shan's story tells of a boy who decides his mother is an alien because she can read his mind and know what he is doing when her back is turned.

The story finished second in the first-grade entries and Shan is one of 12 young authors nationally selected out of more than 40,000 entries. The contest was open to youth in kindergarten through third-grade.

Tushina and Shan's father, Ravi, learned of the contest through The Meadows School.

"Shan loves to read," says Tushina. "He's been reading since he was four and just devours books."

As a second-place winner, Shan received a plasma TV/DVD player, and 10 books and 10 DVDs from "Reading Rainbow." Shan's school and a community library also received sets of both books and DVDs.

"Shan was so excited to win and to have his own TV," says Tushina, who adds that the TV is kept in the kitchen and shared by the family.

Now a second-grader, Shan, 7, says he did his own drawings for the story, and would like to participate in the contest again for another chance to win.

And his thoughts on winning that plasma TV/DVD player?

"It's cool," says Shan, who will appear in ads this fall on KLVX-TV, Channel 10 to promote the 14th annual PBS Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest.

In other youth news:

• Thierry-Henri Bennett, a junior in the international baccalaureate program at Valley High School, attended the Congressional National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., Sept. 18-23. Thierry-Henri also has been selected to attend the Global Young Leaders Conference next July in Europe.

• Three young men from the Las Vegas Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America have recently become Eagle Scouts:

John Andrew Goodwin McCaslin, 15, is the son of Sandra Goodwin and George Barrier. He is a member of Troop No. 99.

TC Mumford, 18, is the son of CJ Mumford. He is a member of Troop No. 508.

Joseph Scott Soderberg, 16, is the son of Joe and Karen Soderberg. He is a member of Troop No. 407.

If you know of a worthy candidate for this column, mail information to Youth Spotlight, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070, or send faxes to 383-4676.