AlDhabi AlMheiri: A World Record at 7 Years and 360 Days

Biography

The record

The title is precise, and so is the margin. Youngest female to publish a bilingual book, achieved at seven years and 360 days: five days before her eighth birthday. Guinness requires 1,000 copies sold for its author categories, and the book passed that within two days.

Her mother, Mouza AlDarmaki, described the condition that most people assume is waived for a child that age. “That was one of the strict conditions set by the Guinness,” she said. “It was all her work except for some spelling corrections.”

What the book is about

I had an idea is 22 pages long and appears in both English and Arabic. It is not a picture story. It summarises a concept and the process of building it: Rainbow Chimney, an online platform through which children sell books and toys. Around that it works through the relationship between a mother, a daughter and a family.

AlDhabi's own summary of the argument is the most quotable line in the coverage, and it is a criticism rather than a description. “I wrote about how engaging with the family helps you more than when you use iPads and computers,” she said. She was in Year 4 at Al Ain Academy at the time.

A family of record holders

The AlMheiri children hold several Guinness titles between them. Her brother, Saeed Rashed AlMheiri, is recorded as the youngest male to publish a book, at four. Her younger sister AlMaha Rashed AlMheiri was recognised in January 2024, at three, as the world's youngest published writer, female.

Guinness World Records reported in 2023 that AlDhabi went on to break her own record, becoming the youngest female to publish a bilingual book series at eight years and 239 days, and founded an initiative called Books from Children to Children. That later sequence comes from the Guinness coverage of the family rather than from the 2022 Gulf News report used for most of this page.

What is documented, and what is not

Firm: her full name and date of birth, 13 July 2014; her home, Al Ain in Abu Dhabi; her school at the time, Al Ain Academy, Year 4; the Guinness title, youngest female to publish a bilingual book, at seven years and 360 days on 7 July 2022; the book, I had an idea, 22 pages, English and Arabic, about establishing the Rainbow Chimney platform; sales of more than 1,000 copies in two days; her mother's name, Mouza AlDarmaki; and both quotations.

Not documented in the Gulf News report used here: her siblings, who are named in later coverage of the family. Her father is not named. Nothing in this material records how the Rainbow Chimney platform has fared, what she has published since the series record, or how the family's run of records came about.

Why the youngest-author records cluster in the UAE

Guinness's author categories turn on a sales threshold rather than a literary judgement, which makes them unusually accessible to a determined family in a market where a thousand copies can be moved quickly. The United Arab Emirates has produced a striking concentration of these titles, and one family holds several of them.

That is worth stating without cynicism, because the underlying facts are unusual on any reading. A seven-year-old wrote a 22-page book in two languages about founding a business, and a national audience bought a thousand copies of it inside 48 hours. The record is the frame. The bilingual writing, and a child arguing in print that families matter more than screens, is the part that a sales figure does not capture.

Achievement Timeline

AlDhabi Rashed AlMheiri — every milestone on this page, placed by age.

13 July 2014

BornBorn

7 July 2022

Becomes the youngest female to publishBecomes the youngest female to publish a bilingual book at seven years and 360 days, with I had an idea; more than 1,000 copies sell in two days

13 September 2022

Gulf News reports the recordGulf News reports the record

2023

Guinness World Records reports that shGuinness World Records reports that she broke her own record with a bilingual book series at eight years and 239 days and founded Books from Children to Children

January 2024

Her younger sister AlMaha is recogniseHer younger sister AlMaha is recognised as the world's youngest published writer, female, at three

Historical Comparison

Person	Country	Milestone	Age / Stat
AlDhabi Rashed AlMheiri	United Arab Emirates	Five days short of her eighth birthday, she published in two languages	Age 0
Bryan Patrick	United States	He typed it himself over a month, and by April 1,015 copies had sold	Age 4
AlMaha Rashed AlMheiri	United Arab Emirates	Two books about the environment, more than a thousand copies in a day, and	Age 4
Ayan Gogoi Gohain	India	Named India's youngest author at four, for 'Honeycomb'	Age 4
Dana Al Balooshi	United Arab Emirates	Publishing '13 Amazing Women of Arabia' at 12	Age 12

What is documented — and what is not

✓ Documented

Born 13 July 2014; from Al Ain, Abu Dhabi; Year 4 at Al Ain Academy in 2022
Guinness World Records title: youngest female to publish a bilingual book, at 7 years and 360 days on 7 July 2022
I had an idea, 22 pages in English and Arabic, about establishing the Rainbow Chimney platform
More than 1,000 copies sold in two days; mother Mouza AlDarmaki quoted on the Guinness conditions

? Unverified, disputed or wrong

Her siblings are not mentioned in the 2022 Gulf News report used for most of this page
Her father is not named in these sources
The later bilingual-series record and the Books from Children to Children initiative come from Guinness coverage of the family rather than the 2022 report
Nothing documents how the Rainbow Chimney platform has fared

Questions people ask about AlDhabi Rashed AlMheiri

How old is AlDhabi AlMheiri?

She was born on 13 July 2014, according to Gulf News.

What record does AlDhabi AlMheiri hold?

Youngest female to publish a bilingual book, achieved on 7 July 2022 at seven years and 360 days.

What is her book about?

I had an idea, a 22-page bilingual book, summarises her concept and her journey in establishing Rainbow Chimney, an online platform for children to sell books and toys, and explores the relationship between a mother, a daughter and a family.

How many copies did it sell?

More than 1,000 in two days. Guinness requires 1,000 copies sold for its author records.

Did she write it herself?

Her mother, Mouza AlDarmaki, said it was all her own work apart from some spelling corrections, and that the requirement was one of Guinness's strict conditions.

Who are her siblings?

Her brother Saeed Rashed AlMheiri is recorded as the youngest male to publish a book, at four, and her younger sister AlMaha Rashed AlMheiri was recognised at three as the world's youngest published writer, female.

Where is AlDhabi AlMheiri now?

The most recent information in these sources is from 2023, when Guinness reported she had broken her own record with a bilingual book series and founded Books from Children to Children.