Read Street: Illustrating talent: Local teen published in 'The Last Synapsid' - Baltimore book clubs and festivals, reviews and recommendations from The Sun's David Rosenthal

Let's go on a little journey: Think back to your 13-year-old self. This might be a shorter trip for some than others, but really think about it. What were your aspirations? Your hobbies? What did you do when you weren't in class or reading everything in sight? (What, books weren't your best friends? I don't believe you.)

For instance, 13-year-old Nancy loved horses, Indiana Jones and was convinced she was going to marry Patrick Rafter. Those first two things are still true, at least. What 13-year-old Nancy was NOT, however, was a nationally published anything.

Here's where Paul Cronan knocks my socks off. The Baltimore School for the Arts freshman, now 14, is a published illustrator of Tim Mason's The Last Synapsid, a children's book recently published by Random House. And Paul, son of Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis, beat out a professional artist and at least one other young talent to gain that title.

"The other kid in contention is the son of a well-known illustrator," Paul's father, Robert, said in a phone interview. "So it was a long shot to us."

Now a year after Paul submitted his sketches of a neighbor's dog to Mason, he's fielding calls from reporters, appearing on radio shows and doing book signings. His contribution to the book includes 12 black-and-white illustrations, though not the cover's color illustration -- a typical arrangement.

Paul says he's always been an artist. "I've been drawing forever -- since I was little," he explained. His father agreed: "Paul's been drawing practically since before he could talk. This is a nice capstone to that."

In The Last Synapsid, a young boy and his friend discover the existance of a prehistoric creature, the title character, and the three work together to save time and space as they know it. The boy, Rob, is an artist, and so Mason decided he wanted a kid's interpretation of the book's action.

Paul submitted drawings of a neighbor's dog, and soon found himself drawing dinosaurs at the instruction of Random House, in what Robert explained was the first time the publisher has engaged a minor.

"I was kinda free to make the dinosaurs the way I wanted them," Paul said, explaining that the publisher sent him clip art and artists' interpretations of dinosaurs. "The art direction I got was minimal. ... They wanted it to be fresh." And the illustrating process only took him about two months.

As for the future, Paul has a more typical teenage response: Anything's possible. "I enjoyed the process. And I think it would be fun to be an illustrator," he said. "But I think I want to broaden my horizons."

Considering his horizons are already much larger than fantasizing about a tennis player, I think Paul's got nothing to worry about.

Meet Paul and author Tim Mason at The Ivy Bookshop from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, where they'll be signing and discussing the book.