Bellevue Square hosts a free book signing Saturday, Aug. 22, featuring one of the region's youngest published authors: 9-year-old Oliver Popa of Edmonds, who is releasing his second children's picture book about Pluto's identity crisis.

Oliver will sign copies of "Am I a Planet?" from 1–4 p.m. at Made in Washington, 190 Bellevue Square. The retailer calls him its "youngest-ever maker," according to its product listing.

The book launches two days later.

"Am I a Planet?" officially ships Monday, Aug. 24, a date Oliver chose himself. It marks the 20th anniversary of the International Astronomical Union's 2006 vote to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet. The story is set in that year: an anthropomorphized Pluto learns from his friend Mars that he's been kicked off the planet roster, then works through an identity crisis to figure out where he belongs in the universe.

Oliver's fascination with space started at age 2, when his grandmother began showing him outer-space videos on YouTube, 425 Magazine reported. The comic strips he later drew in his room became the seed for the book's storyline.

"I found comic strips Oliver had drawn in his room, and I told him they'd make a great book," his mother, Whitney Popa, said in a press release quoted by 425 Magazine. "As we talked through the idea, he suggested we launch it on Pluto's demotion day. I didn't even know that was a thing!"

Whitney Popa is also the publisher at Our West Press, the Edmonds-based independent press behind both of Oliver's books. She runs Popa & Associates, a public relations consultancy in the Edmonds business community.

Oliver published his debut, "Drippey Plants a Garden," at age 7. That book, about a bee who plants a garden and discovers the power of sharing, was illustrated by Elisabeth Sung, who returns for "Am I a Planet?" The new book is priced at $23.99.

Two more signings follow the Bellevue stop: Edmonds Bookshop from 1–3 p.m. on Sept. 6 and Common Formme Story Time from 9–10:30 a.m. on Sept. 10.