At an age when some young people are concerned only about themselves, Alyssa Lanier is thinking about her peers. 

 The 16-year-old, a rising senior at Meridian High School, has published her first book called “Letters to Society,” which is available on Amazon.com. 

The devotional book includes Bible verses and covers a variety of topics such as happiness, depression, love, bullying, racism and hate.

Lanier decided to write the book after talking with other teens about those issues. 

“I know there are young adults  who need help with certain situations and don’t like to talk to people about it,” she said. “They can just read (the book) and it will help them out.”

Lanier said it took her six months to write the book, working on it at night. 

“For her to sit down and just write a book with her extra time is amazing,” said her mother, Erica Cole. “I’m very proud.”

After high school, Lanier plans to study English and speech language pathology. She hopes young people will be inspired by her book to follow their dreams.

“Even when it seems impossible, just keep doing it because it pays off,” she said.