HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) – In our Children of Change segment, we feature local kids doing great things to make a positive impact on the community. 11-year-old Israel Veney of Hampton is one of those children. He is a 6th grader at Kilgore Gifted Center in Hampton.
He says his favorite subject is pre-algebra, so you might be surprised to learn he is now a published author!
“I started writing the book around the end of 3rd grade, and then I finished it around the end of 2023,” said Veney.
The title of Veney’s book is Buddy: The Scorpion Who Saved the Town.
“It’s about a scorpion who saves the town by getting help from other city leaders after a catastrophic event, a series of catastrophic events, called the unmentionable.”
Veney explained more about the role Buddy the scorpion plays in the book.
“He actually sneaks into the mayor’s office and finds a book that contains the truth about the past, and then, once he learns the truth, he goes to Ant Town and then he asks forgiveness for the past.”
He said the scorpions of the past mistreated their fellow insects. Veney says forgiveness, and learning from the past, is a big message in his book.
“We’re not our ancestors and we should stop acting like the things that have happened in the past are their faults. Like racism, people are acting like we are our ancestors.”
Veney said his teacher, Joy Tanner, inspired him to write the book. Tanner was his teacher in 3rd grade during the pandemic, and then she moved up with his class to teach them in 4th grade as well.
Tanner says Veney started writing his book in 3rd grade, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue, but she recognized his writing ability and encouraged him.
“Israel was very good at analyzing the texts that we read, and that’s a start, because he was able to pick out the themes and the characters and the story elements that go with it. Get the message when the message sometimes wasn’t easy to find, he was very good at that, and then when we started doing the writing in 4th grade, he would go above and beyond then and wanting to keep adding and fixing his writing. It might be like, okay, we’re going to write two or three paragraphs. Israel would write two or three pages. So, I noticed that he really was good, and did have a talent for writing. So, I just really encouraged him to keep writing. He had picked up using dialogue with quotations, and identifying the speaker in his dialogue, and so that’s a really strong skill for a 4th grader to be able to do that. So, he definitely had that talent.”
Tanner worked with Veney on figuring out what he wanted to get rid of in the book and what he wanted to keep.
“He blossomed into a great writer. As you can tell when he reads the book, he has lots of descriptive words, he has a clear theme, and all those elements that go into writing.”
Tanner says on the day Veney’s book was published, his mother sent her a message.
“I just started crying when I was reading that. I was so proud of him and so amazed at what he had done, and then right away I ordered my copy. I started reading it to my class and telling them this was a former student, and so hopefully that inspires them to see you can do this, too, or you can do something you really want to do if you really put the work into it and follow through. So, it was inspirational for me as a teacher. So, he says I inspire him, but he’s also inspired me.”
Veney’s book is for sale on Amazon.
