By Marissa Wells
Contributing Writer
Steven, a star basketball player, believes he’s better than his team and does not need teammates to win games. With the help of his coach, he learns a valuable lesson about the importance of teamwork in order to not only win games but in life.
That’s the basis for “In the Paint” a children’s book by Restee “Roc” Collins IV.
Collins, who is only 13, was compelled to write his book after seeing a low representation of child authors and wanting to change that reality.
“I felt like I haven’t seen a lot of young authors, so I wanted to be someone who wrote a book at my age,” he said.
Collins’ passion for basketball also served as a motivator.
“I love the game of basketball and I know what it takes to win when you have a team mentality,” Collins said. “It means working together to achieve a goal.”
Collins’ favorite part of his book is when Steven apologizes to his teammates for the way he treated them.
“I love that his teammates accepted his apology because sometimes we don’t apologize because people may not accept it,” he said.
Steven’s basketball coach is Collins’ favorite character.
“He reminds Steven that you need a team to win in life and on a basketball team,” Collins said. “It’s not all about doing things on your own. You have to have someone help you with the things that you do.”
“In the Paint” will inspire young readers of all backgrounds as it sends a powerful message about the importance of teamwork.
“I hope readers of ‘In the Paint’ will be inspired to share the message in the book with everyone,” Collins said. “It was important for me to create this book, because I wanted to inspire people to work on their character and treat people with kindness.”
“In the Paint” is Collins’ first book. He is currently working on another children’s book that will be about a superhero.
In addition to being an author and basketball player, Collins is a seventh grade student, an abstract artist and drummer. He’s also the curator of Rocstone Art. He is based in Calabasas.
For more information about the author and his work, visit RocStoneArt.com.
“In the Paint” is available for $16.99 on RocStoneArt.com and Amazon.
