BELFAST — Lydia Schofield, 11, (pen name Jo Jo Thoreau) has been in the publishing game long enough so that standing up in front of 250 people on a book tour to read from her latest picture book and answer audience questions no longer makes her nervous.

The Thorndike middle schooler, about to enter sixth grade this fall, has published two books with Little Hands Press, a Maine publishing imprint company started by her mother, Tiffany Schofield. Her latest book, Buckaroo Bobbie Sue, just won a Spur Award with Western Writers of America and she is the youngest author to have done so.

Asked how she felt going up to collect her award she gave a big smile. “I thought it was amazing,” she said.

Her career started at the age of nine, when she first wrote a rhyming picture book called Bendy Wendy, about a girl who hurts her back during gymnastics and strives to get her mojo back. At her very first book signing/reading, Jo Jo and Tiffany bought a box of props to act out parts of the book.

“When I did a hand stand in front of the audience, I fell over and hurt my back,” said Jo Jo, laughing.

As they say life imitates art. They forgot to bring an ice pack (which appears in the book), but luckily the school staff had one on hand.

It took about a year to master the writing process for her first book and half the time to write the second book.

In Buckaroo Bobbie Sue, once again Jo Jo applied the adage: “write what you know” as she’s an active 4-H member and loves working with horses. “It’s about a girl who lives on a horse ranch and she wants to help her father train the horses on the farm, but she’s told she’s too young,” said Jo Jo. “But when Diamond Ray, a horse comes into her life, she forms a strong bond with him. When one day something happens to one of the crew members, she has to ride this horse into town. The challenge she has to overcome is to prove that she’s not just a little girl who can’t help out.”

“They learn that she’s strong-willed and that she doesn’t give up,” said Jo Jo.

This fortitude goes beyond her writing. At book signings, she is self-assured and talks about the process of getting published, which her mother said fascinates many adults in the audience.

Her mother Tiffany, has been a strong influence on Jo Jo’s career, as she herself works at Thorndike Press. With Tiffany’s help, Lydia took did the hard work every new author has to take: writing query letters, submitting manuscripts publishers, revising her book, over and over and over.

“I think my journey in life was to prepare me so that I could help her on hers,” said Tiffany. “I never set out to work in publishing, it just turned out that way and I certainly didn’t realize I’d have a young author. Now, I get it.”

Jo Jo has more ideas as she goes forward. Interested in dystopian novels such as The Fifth Wave, Divergent, and The Hunger Games, she aims to write a full length novel for her next book. Later this month, she’ll be meeting an award-winning adult crime writing author, Al Lamanda, who would like to collaborate with her on a future full-length novel.

“It’s like the female version of Indiana Jones,” said Jo Jo.

For now, she’s content to speak to schools and libraries and share what she’s learned on her young journey. She signs her books “Dream!”

To find Jo Jo’s books, illustrated by Kristina Zack Young, visit: Little Hands Press

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com