HAMPTON, Va. — Eli Mackey, a 7th grader at Eaton Middle School in Hampton, is holding a "show and tell" at his school to read excerpts from his new nonfiction book, “Turtle Tales.”
An excerpt from his book reads: “Picture this: A mommy terrapin carefully digging a cozy nest in the sand to lay her eggs making sure they’re safe and snug."
I first interviewed Eli at the Virginia Living Museum in August when his book was published.
Watch previous coverage: Hampton 12-year-old loves turtles so much he wrote a book about them
Since then, he’s received an invitation to speak at Animal Con.
“Animal Con is basically like Comicon but for animals, mostly reptiles and amphibians. I's in Orlando, Florida and I’m going to be there,” said Mackey.
According to its website, Animal Con is the largest event for animal content creators on social media and TV.
“They’re going to ask me questions about being an animal content creator, in general,” said Mackey.
The Animal Con invitation isn’t paid for, so he’s raising $3,000 to get him to Orlando for the event in October.
If you’d like to donate to this young author’s trip, you can send donations to the Bennett Center, who sponsors Eli and other young entrepreneurs.
