ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla — Riley Celzo, a sophomore at Tocoi Creek High School in St. Johns County, has a message for children.
“There’s only one of you and only one of everybody else. And everybody is different in their own ways,” Celzo said.
That's the message of his new book, “The New Bird”. The 16-year-old author wants children to know it’s okay to be different. Stan Tucker, founder of the nonprofit Leap for Literacy, selected Celzo's book to be professionally illustrated and published.
“I have a writing curriculum called Share Your Story where we give kids a platform to write their own book,” Tucker said. “Our goal is to show kids that every kid has a voice, and every kid has a story, and your story needs to be heard.
Celzo, whose book is now available on Amazon, says his story was inspired by his older brother Cameron who has autism.
“The book was made for him, and I just hope he knows I love him very much. I did this for him,” Celzo said.
“He respects and loves his brother so much because he's always been himself. And so, when he dedicated that, I'm just like, boom, he's taking a real-life experience, and then putting a creative story in that, that has that same message,” Tucker said. “And that was the thing that stood out for me.”
Tucker invited him onto his YouTube show, The Very Airy Library, to share about his new book that features an Ostrich named Nick.
“He moves into this school, and he's the new bird,” Celzo explained. “And he can't fly because ostriches can't fly, and all the other birds can fly. He feels excluded and not like anybody else. But one day, he just realizes, ‘Oh, I am cool. I'm different. And being different is pretty cool.’ And then he tells all the other birds how cool he is, because he's different. And all the other birds start to accept him.”
Celzo hopes that message of embracing and celebrating our differences resonates with students.
“If you ever feel different or anything like that, just know that being different is really awesome,” Celzo said. “And it's just really cool to be your own person. You don't have to be like anybody else. You can just be yourself.”
As for what’s next for the young author, Tucker says the Celzo's future is bright because he treats everyone with kindness and respect, works hard, and does the right thing even when no one is looking.
“I've known Riley for years and that's how he lives his life,” Tucker said, “So, those are my three things for success for young people, and Riley does those three things. So, anything that that young man wants to achieve, it's going to happen. I'm just so excited and honored to be a small part of his story, giving him an opportunity to be an author. And I just can't wait to see where he goes.”