New York Times bestselling author Jeff Kinney, best known for being the creator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, spent Thursday evening at the St. Petersburg Coliseum meeting fans and signing books.
His appearance was part of a campaign and civic engagement event organized by political candidate Brandt Robinson. A longtime Pinellas County history teacher, Robinson is running for Florida’s 13th Congressional District.
Prior to the meet and greet, Kinney and Robinson participated in an onstage conversation about politics, education, community and the impact of literature.
The two men have been friends for multiple years. It all started when Kinney began to watch Robinson’s content on social media.
“I found these videos of this very tense looking guy speaking directly to the camera,” Kinney explained at the event. “And he really is excited about participatory democracy. There was something about Brandt that just drew me in. So, I watched a lot of his videos and learned a lot about what was happening in that day’s news put into a historical context.”
This led the author to contact Robinson. A bond would form. Eventually, Robinson would even travel to Plainville, Massachusetts to visit Kinney’s independent bookstore, An Unlikely Story. They realized that they share a passion for civic participation, particularly for young people.
Creating a sense of community in a “third place” was among the topics discussed at the Thursday gathering. These spaces, outside of home, work, school and church, provide opportunities for people to connect.
Kinney is currently developing a Plainville downtown revitalization project. The town, where he has resided for years, has a population of approximately 10,000 people.
“Jeff wants to create like a third place where there’s hiking trails and he just finished a beer garden,” Robinson explained. “So, he’s imagining ‘how do you bring people together?’”
An Unlikely Story was the first step in the effort.
Once Kinney’s bookstore opened in 2015, it grew in popularity. He realized that it could be a space for people to congregate and learn. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton was scheduled to appear, but had to cancel her book event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That spurred the rest of the downtown development,” Kinney said. “Because, we were thinking about how we can grow.”
When Kinney previously came to visit Robinson in the Tampa Bay area, the political candidate introduced him to Dunedin.
The small town left an impression. Particularly, John R. Lawrence Pioneer Park’s arch structure. In fact, it inspired a design idea for Kinney’s Plainville initiative.
“We need great spaces for people to come together as citizens to really engage,” Robinson said. “That’s a big step for participatory democracy.”
Another key topic was how to engage young people in the civic process. Robinson argued that older Americans have a responsibility to bring children and teenagers together. This can help them learn more about democracy and government. More so, how they can get involved.
Both men emphasized the importance of literature during their childhoods. Kinney’s favorite book growing up was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.
“It was like holding up a mirror to my own life,” he explained. “I could see myself in the pages. I saw myself as the protagonist and it wasn’t a leap at all. I’ve come to realize that so many kids don’t get that opportunity. So many kids don’t have their lives reflected back to them.”
As a bookstore owner, this has inspired Kinney to focus on voices that are not always heard.
Robinson began to read autobiographies early in life. One book in particular was The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The civil rights leader was assassinated in 1965.
These nonfiction works had an impact on the congressional candidate and helped foster his passion for history. More so, they made him think about “the potential for change.”