Neighbors | Zack Shively.Author and YouTube star Paige McKenzie spoke to students from Holy Family School on Oct. 11 at Poland library. She explained her life and how she started her YouTube channel led to her bestselling book trilogy.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Cindy Beach, Assistant Manager of Youth Services and Programming for the PLYMC, organized author and actor Paige McKenzie to come to local libraries and speak. Beach always invites authors to the library every year during Teen Read Week. Pictured are, from left, (front) Library Graphic Designer Ginny Hazy, Director of Youth Services and Programming Josephine Noli, McKenzie; (back) Beach, McKenzie's mother and co-star Mercedes Rose and Library Public Relations Director Janet Loew.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Paige McKenzie, author of "The Haunting of Sunshine Girl" series and star of the YouTube series of the same name, read from one of her books during her visit to the Poland library during Teen Read Week.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Holy Family School student Silas Blackshear won a raffle to receive a signed book from writer and actor Paige McKenzie at Poland library on Oct. 11.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Paige McKenzie spoke with students from Holy Family Schools. The seventh- and eighth-grade students heard about her life and how she created her YouTube and book series. The students also got a chance to ask her questions and take pictures with her.
By ZACK SHIVELY
Author and YouTube star Paige McKenzie spoke at the Poland library on Oct. 11 as a part of Teen Read Week at the library.
She gave a talk to students about her work on her YouTube series “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl,“ which has gone on to become a bestselling trilogy of young adult books. The students were from Jean Wargo’s seventh-grade and Caroline Mulhall’s eighth-grade classes from Holy Family Schools.
“I don’t have anything you don’t have,“ McKenzie told the students during her talk to show the students that they could be just as successful as her.
She began her talk by introducing herself to the students. The students got to know her love of Disney, Pinterest and Stephanie Perkins.
She explained how she started her YouTube series. A local director had an idea for the series and she added some story to it. She, her mom and the director started a production company called Coat Tales Productions. McKenzie, now 23, was just 16 when the series started.
“We wanted to prove to Hollywood that you can tell a story on a flip cam and get millions of views,“ she said of her early work. The series’ 17th season had been nearing release at the time of the visit. Now, the company uses better equipment to film. She described the show as “Gilmore Girls meets Paranormal Activity.“
She began writing books based on the YouTube series after. Her first novel, “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl,“ released in 2015. The next two books in the series, “The Awakening of Sunshine Girl” and “The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl,“ released in 2016 and 2017. She co-wrote the first two books with Alyssa B. Sheinmel and co-wrote the third with Nancy Ohlin.
Near the end of the event, she read a short excerpt from her book. Then, she answered question from the students. They asked about books and her life. The event finished with a raffle for her book.
Cindy Beach, Assistant Manager of Youth Services and Programming of the PLYMC, began planning to have McKenzie last year.
Beach invites a different author to speak around the libraries every year for Teen Read Week.
She said she chose McKenzie this year because McKenzie has accomplished so much in such a small amount of time. She continued to say that many of the students may want to be writers or YouTube stars, so those students could look to her story for inspiration.
Her film work can be found on her YouTube channel “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl Network.“ Her books are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other book retailers.
More information on her work and social media pages can be found on her website, http://www.hauntingofsunshinegirl.com.