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8-year-old Newspaper Publisher in Selinsgrove

SELINSGROVE — Do you read the newspaper every day? A little girl in Selinsgrove hopes you do and she wants you to read hers. She started writing her own m...

SELINSGROVE -- Do you read the newspaper every day? A little girl in Selinsgrove hopes you do and she wants you to read hers.

She started writing her own monthly newspaper in December and she already has around 50 subscribers.

It's called the "Orange Street News," and Hilde Lysiak, age 8, writes all of the articles, takes the pictures, and even delivers it to your door.

While many girls her age are playing with dolls, Hilde goes to fires, borough council meetings, even tornadoes -- under the watchful eye of her parents, of course.

Hilde looks over her work at the Kind Cafe in Selinsgrove, the place she refers to as, "her office." But what would an 8 year old need an office for? For the newspaper Hilde writes and publishes – Orange Street News.

"I have a word on the street and I have two news stories and a short story in it."

Hilde says she got the idea for the newspaper from her father, Matt, who wrote for the New York Daily News.

"I started a newspaper with crayons and I realized that wouldn't get me anywhere. It just made my hands hurt," Hilde said.

That's when Hilde and her father started Orange Street News, named after the street they call home in Selinsgrove.

8-year-old Newspaper Publisher in Selinsgrove

Hilde writes the stories and takes the pictures while Matt does the layout of the newspaper.

Hilde attends borough council meetings, stops by the Selinsgrove police department, calls the mayor, and bikes around the neighborhood looking for stories.

She even has her own press pass and business cards, and asks the tough questions.

"How much do you get paid?" Hilde asked.

That's one question I didn't want to answer.

"She has over 50 subscribers already!" said Matt Lysiak. "She will go all around town. People will come up to me and say, ' Hey! Are you Hilde's dad?'"

In addition to all those subscriptions, several local businesses in Selinsgrove carry Hilde's paper.

"It's nice that she gets some exposure. We love to have interesting things from people in the community like artists," said Kind Cafe owner Davide Della Pietra.

Customers say they enjoy reading the paper while they eat.

"I like any entrepreneurial spirit, passion," said Nicole Shelley. "I think young people, anyone who is passionate about that."

"I don't want to work for another paper, I want to have my own. I want it to be bigger than the New York Daily News," said Hilde.

A one-year subscription to Orange Street News is $2 and Hilde delivers the papers herself, unless it's too far. Then her father will drive it.

For more information on Hilde's newspaper, visit OrangeStreetNews.com

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