Fritz Boynes III was one of 10 students whose stories were selected to be included in the Rotary E!’s yearly Butterfly Story Book publication.

In keeping with the year’s theme of Families Working Together and Helping Each Other, the 9-year-old Fritz wrote about his family, how they help around the house and how they defend themselves.

“I take tae kwon do,” he said, taking a break from his fourth-grade classes at Guy Benjamin School.

His story starts out by noting that he lives with his mom and his turtle.

“The rest of my family lives apart but we still stay in touch,” he continued.

Fritz and Arria Walsh at Julius E. Sprauve School wrote two of the three submissions Rotary Club of St. John made to Rotary E! for the book. They competed against stories by 210 other students from across the Caribbean for the 10 spots in the book.

“These two students are published authors,” Rotary Club member Joan Bermingham said.

She said that the Butterfly Story Book will be for sale at Amazon.

International publication of his story will serve him well as he gets older because Fritz said he’d like to be an author, or maybe a football player. No matter what, he’s going to college.

And should a career as an author be in his future, he said he’d like to write about “the troubles I had” or “other different things” in his life. Or maybe he’ll write about racing, since he likes motorcycles.

“I’d like a Bugatti,” he said, adding that he hopes he makes enough money when he’s older to buy one of the expensive motorcycles.

Fritz said his story began with an assignment by his teacher, Mary Burks.

“It just came up in my head,” he said.

Burks had warm words for Fritz, saying that he had an even disposition and is well mannered and respectful. She said he also gets along with everybody.

“I’m proud to hear he won,” she said.

His mother, Marlene Tyson, is equally proud.

“He’s a sweetheart,” she said.

Fritz’s father is Fritz Boynes II, and the boy has a half-sister, Kiera Boynes, 12, who lives nearby.

“We ride bikes together,” he said.

He started school at Guy Benjamin but moved to St. Croix to live with relatives while his mother attended college. While on St. Croix, he attended kindergarten and first grade at Eulalie Rivera School. When he returned to St. John, he started again at Guy Benjamin.

He said he likes writing and math.

“We get to play games. It’s very fun when you’re playing games together,” he said of the math challenges that come with the games.

He said he also likes science because of the projects they get to do.

On Saturdays, he attends the Kids and the Sea program, where’s he’s learning rowing and swimming skills.

“When you do it for a few more years, you get to start sailing,” he said, looking forward to that day.

When he’s not in school, hanging out with friends, reading, or riding bicycles, he likes to go to Trunk Bay Beach.

“You get to see different animals and I like snorkeling,” he said.