Eight-year-old Uniondale author tops Amazon charts

Add best-selling author to the list of accomplishments for 8-year-old Jomo Jesus Thomas Suriel of Uniondale.

Jomo’s newest book, “The Angry Vacuum,” recently achieved the No. 1 ranking on Amazon’s new releases in the Children’s Reference Education category shortly after its release on Sept. 1.

“The Angry Vacuum” follows two child superheroes, Sid the Super Happy Kid and Laura the Emotions Explorer, who both can help other kids manage their emotions. They take on the challenge to stop a robot vacuum that tries to suck up all the good feelings of the world, according to the summary of the book on Amazon.

This book is the second in the series, with the first, “The Emotions Volcano,” released in August.

“It’s about when Sam the Super Happy Kid and Laura the Emotions Explorer flew up to this planet where all these volcanoes are erupting because of the red volcano,” Jomo explained about the first book in the series.

He was motivated to write his stories about emotions because he said he’s good at managing his emotions and wants to teach other kids the same skills and ideas.

“I hope they learn to control their emotions,” he said about other kids reading his books. “I don’t want to just be the only kid that knows about emotions, so I’d rather share it with other kids.”

Jomo published his first book, “Super Happy Kid Defeats the Angries,” in June 2021 when he was just four years old. He said his ideas just come into his mind.

“It was in my mind, and then I started to think, and then I came up with it,” he said.

The book is about Sam the Super Happy Kid learning how to make better decisions through his behavior and his emotions, and he learns how to defeat the “angries,” or angry emotions.

His first book took him a few weeks to write, and he said the process got easier with each book he wrote.

His second book, “Super Happy Kid Adventures in Angry Land,” came out almost two weeks after his first, and it’s about Sam the Super Happy Kid fighting his way through “Angry Land,” where the “angries” reside.

Jomo said he loves Dave Pilkey’s “Dog Man” book series, and he even started designing his own comics, about “mini-robots,” that were inspired by the series. He’s still working on only writing books, but he said he might branch into comic books and comic strips in the future.

In addition to reading, Jomo also likes to draw, making time to read and draw while his father, Jomo Gamal Thomas, illustrates his books, and Sandra Clifton, of Clifton Academy, edits his writings.

The 8-year-old author said he’s being homeschooled, and has been since the age of two, by Clifton Academy, a private practice that offers in person or virtual learning, through which he takes weekly language classes in Mandarin, Spanish and Hebrew, and critical thinking and Mindfulness classes via Outschool.com.

For the past three years, Jomo has also been enrolled in Hofstra University’s Gifted Youth Program, as well as Fordham University’s Reading Institute Program.

He was inspired to become a writer by his father, who is an intellectual property, business and real estate lawyer, and the founder of his law firm, J.G. Thomas & Associates, P.C. in Valley Stream. Thomas has done some writing of his own, authoring “The Black Millionaire Next Door: Black Wealth 2003,” a special report, published in the Black Wealth and Fortunes Magazine.

In addition to illustrating his son’s books, Thomas also helped introduce the character of Laura the Emotions Explorer into the storyline.

Jomo said he began writing because he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I was inspired by my dad,” he said.

Even though he has accomplished so much for his age, Jomo is already preparing for his future. He sees himself continuing to write more books and comics, and he said he would also like to be a police officer when he grows up.