“I just wanted the kids to like each other” – CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBS New York) – This Black History Month, a young boy in New York City who has found a special way to celebrate all that makes him unique hopes to inspire others to do the same.

He shares his story with CBS2’s Jenna DeAngelis.

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In his own words, in his own book, Aiden Taylor takes us on a journey with his afro through New York.

“Hi, my name is Aiden…and I have a really big afro,” he read in his book. “Me and my afro go everywhere together…we go to the library together, we go to the store together.”

“Me and My Afro” is a story celebrating uniqueness and self-love that Aiden wrote when she was 10, after being made fun of for her hairstyle.

“I used to go home to my mom every day after school and I was like, ‘Why are people teasing my afro? “”, Did he declare. “I wanted to write this book about my afro because I especially wanted children to love themselves and love themselves as they are.”

Aiden approached his mother with the idea of ​​the pandemic. He wrote the book and she published it in August 2020.

“Everyone likes it. Even the people who teased my afro really like it,” Aiden said.

“How does that make you feel?” DeAngelis asked.

“Well, that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something,” he said.

So the 12-year-old boy wrote another book.

“It’s basically about who you want to be when you grow up,” he said. “I want kids to start thinking about the future now.”

Share this message with young students during school visits.

“I love it,” said one student.

He’s been so successful with his first two books that he’s working on a third, which will be out in a few months.

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“It’s like cooking with my grandmother,” he said.

“How many books are you going to write? DeAngelis asked.

“Like, 50-60,” he said.

As he says: He has a big afro, but bigger dreams.

“I really want to go to Harvard,” he said.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” DeAngelis asked.

“I think I’ve already realized what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a writer and an actor,” he said.

It’s already in commercials, like a brand campaign with Spike Lee, and on a billboard. Sharing, he learned, is what makes him unique that got him there.

“I love my afro. It makes me different, and it makes me me, and I love myself,” he said.

Hoping that her books will inspire others to embrace what fills the pages of their stories.

Her mom says some kids don’t know what an afro is, so the book provides plenty of teachable moments.

With his two books combined, he has already sold around 10,000 copies.

He adds that it was the death of one of his idols, Kobe Bryant, that made him want to work harder and start writing books. He says it’s the “mamba mentality” and thinks Bryant would think it was a great achievement.

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For more information on his books, Click here.