Feature: St. Louis American
Books N Bros Book Club founder Sidney Keys III had a whirlwind of a winter break. In between wrapping up his first semester of sixth grade, the Hazelwood West Middle School student headed off to New York City to be recognized as a “Young Wonder” as part of the 11th Annual CNN Heroes. A couple of days later he flew to Los Angeles to be a guest on the “Steve Harvey Show.”
“I’ve never been happier to do a videotape greeting,” Oprah Winfrey told Sidney as he sat grinning from ear-to-ear between Harvey and his wife Marjorie on the set of the show. “I wish I could be there to give you a hug Sidney Keys.”
Things had calmed down a bit when Keys and his mother, Winnie Caldwell, sat down with The American to talk about the amazing year they have had. “I wanted it to be this way, but I didn’t expect it to be this fast,” Keys said. “When we started Books N Bros, we had seven members – including me. Now we have more than 100.”
As a surprise on “The Steve Harvey Show,” Amazon gifted an additional 50 members with yearlong subscriptions and complementary e-readers for all current members. “It was really cool being on the show,” Keys said. “He was so energetic and so funny. I just had a good time.”