Feature: KSDK
“It's all just happening so fast,” said Keys. “We just had our one year anniversary and now I'm being interviewed by a whole lot of different networks and I'm getting awards and being on talk shows.”
The week started with Sidney's appearance on the Steve Harvey Show in Los Angeles. After presenting book club t-shirts to Harvey and his wife that read 'Cool Bros Read', Harvey had a surprise for Keys: a taped shout-out from the queen of book clubs, Oprah Winfrey.
“You're proving everybody wrong,” said Oprah in the videotaped statement. “A lot of people think that young black boys don't read but you obviously know differently, and so you obviously know it's a great way of connecting, and learning, and expanding. You get to see the whole world through a book.”
The week was about to get even better.
“After the Steve Harvey Show we went home to St. Louis for one day and then we flew out to New York because I was being awarded as a CNN Young Wonder at the CNN Heroes ceremony,” said Keys.
CNN Heroes, hosted by Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa honored Keys for his year old book club, which has grown from seven members to more than a hundred. A little over a year ago, Sidney's mother took him to Eye See Me Bookstore in University City, which features books about African-Americans. Reading about characters who looked like him inspired him to create a book club for young black boys 7 to 13 years old.