- April 18, 2024
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Amanda Kinzey (second row, second from left, with book) and a cleanup group at Waterfront Park in Palm Coast on June 26. Photo courtesy of Amanda Kinzey
Amanda Kinzey
Amanda Kinzey’s Youth Service Heroes series begins with “Summer Clean Up,” a story about Jonas, a young boy who has a passion for helping others through drawing. With his classmates, Jonas creates a cleaner environment at his school and organizes and starts a recycling movement.
Kinzey served in AmeriCorps for two years, but it was while she was working for a Boys and Girls Club in South Carolina, that she came up for the idea of writing a trilogy.
“The kids were allowed to go to the bookshelf, after their homework was done,” Kinzey said. “I paid attention and noticed they were going back for the same books — the books that were colorful and had questions and riddles in the back were the ones they chose.”
One day, a boy told her he didn’t want a book because there was nothing new.
“I wanted to write a book that represented those kids,” she said. “They were the ones that inspired me to start writing.”
Kinzey said the message in “Sumer Clean Up” is about more than just recycling.
“My hope is to be able to go into classrooms and teach the lessons created in this story to inspire our younger generation to get out there and serve their schools and local communities in every aspect,” she said.
Kinzey has started her second book in the trilogy, a story about homelessness, which she hopes will be ready for publication next year.
