Chesterfield schoolboy with Asperger’s raises £630 for Derbyshire autism charity with book signing

Kenzi Jupp, 13, has released his own book entitled ‘I’m Just Me’ after discovering a knack for poetry whilst he was in primary school.

The Outwood Academy Hasland Hall pupil is hoping to raise £1000 for Derbyshire Autism Services – a charity that helped support him and his family after his diagnosis with Asperger’s.

During a book signing at Tupton Village Hall at the end of March, Kenzi raised over half of that target, making £630 over the course of the day.

Mandy Pearce, Kenzi’s mum, said: “It went really well, and we’re not far off Kenzi’s target of £1000. It was busy - with the exception of about 10 minutes, there was someone there all the time, and they were queuing to get in, which was lovely.”

“Hopefully we’ll hit that in the next couple of weeks as we’ve had a few orders and enquiries from different schools.”

Mandy said that, while they are close to reaching £1000, they were not slowing down their efforts. She said they still have 400 copies of Kenzi’s book, and added that any money raised over the target will be donated to DAS.

Mandy has contacted hundreds of schools in Derbyshire about them stocking Kenzi’s book in their library, and had a small number of responses. She did, however, say that the reaction from schools and parents who have already bought the book has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I’ve emailed around 500 schools in Derbyshire and had 20 responses, but the ones who’ve seen the book are all coming back and ordering more.

“Kenzi wants to get a book into every school in Derbyshire, because the ones who have seen it say how brilliant it is, and we’ve had loads of people get in touch to say it has really helped their kids.”

More information about Kenzi’s book, which costs £9.99, can be found on his Facebook and Twitter pages.

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