One woman’s dream of becoming an author came true this holiday season. In a Dec. 14 TikTok post, Chad Cooper, whose username is @moosbehavin, hands his grandmother Barbara Rieco a gift bag.
“It’s not a living, moving thing, is it?” Rieco asks hesitantly. “I keep trying to convince them to get a dog, but they don’t want more living, breathing things in the house, I think, at this point in their lives,” Cooper tells PEOPLE.
Instead of a furry friend, Rieco received an even bigger surprise: a copy of the children’s book she wrote under the title More! More! More!. Rieco wrote the story in 1972 and spent 40 years trying to get it published. They kept rejecting him until Cooper did something.
“When I was six, seven, eight years old, I remember her showing me this book and talking about it and it was a thing that went on for many, many years,” he says. “And I ended up helping her one day with her computer and I saw a file on her desktop, and I instantly thought, ‘This could be a really great gift opportunity.’ I emailed it to myself and the rest is history.” Cooper, who works in production and design, self-published the book.His grandmother collaborated with illustrator Yuri Moyashi to bring the story to life.
In the video, which currently has more than 4 million views and 800,000 likes, Rieco is overcome with emotion as she flips through the book.
“I just thought in the blink of an eye, ‘This could be a really great gift opportunity,'” says Riec’s grandson Cooper.
moosbehavin/Tiktok
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“This is probably the nicest thing anyone has done for me in my entire life,” she says. “In my whole life this is the most beautiful thing.”
More! More! More! follows Prissy Miss, who is befriended by a girl who teaches her the importance of gratitude and the power of pretending, according to the book’s description. It is also based on Riec’s life experiences. “My grandmother grew up in a very middle-class family and never really saw anything outside of her family, like their small town in Philadelphia,” says Cooper. “I believe she was working on a Head Start project, and she was really poor at the time.”
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‘More! More! More!’ by Barbara Rieco.
Barbara Rieco
Cooper says his grandmother was deeply affected by the experience. “She ended up having to go to the doctor about it because all she wanted to do was help these people and she couldn’t figure out how,” he says. “This is just her way of doing it.”
TikTok users raved about the book — and Cooper’s thoughtful gift — in the video’s comments section.
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“This is so cute! We should have this in our local library. Fortunately, I know the person in charge of ordering books [it’s me. I’m the person]”, one user wrote. “I don’t cry at work, you do,” wrote another.
The author is similarly delighted with the reception of the book, especially after all these years.
“She didn’t realize I was even making the video, nor was I going to post it, nor was anyone supposed to see it,” Cooper says. “She interrupts because everyone can see her. But at the same time, she’s so incredibly thrilled, and so grateful, and just so filled with probably the most joy she’s ever had in her life at this moment.”
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“This is probably the nicest thing anyone has done for me in my entire life,” Rieco says in the video.
moosbehavin/Tiktok
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Cooper says they sold “several hundred copies” More! More! More! less than a month after the video was released (the book is also available for purchase at moremoremore.net).
Following her success, she is planning an audiobook and a hardcover edition. His grandmother, for her part, has other projects in mind for the future. “She’s written a few other things that she’s tried to get published, and I think it’s definitely time for her to get into that kind of thing,” he says. “But more than anything, I think this whole thing has been so inspiring for both of us. We’re trying to figure it out right now [how] to help other people achieve their dreams.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education