Keith White Jr.

Keith White Jr. (born April 14, 1981) is an American author of children's books, radio personality, screen writer, film director, occasional actor and contributor to the video game website extraguy.com. His first children's book Andrew and the Pirates was released on April 13, 2013.

Early life

White, an only child, was born in Buffalo NY in 1981. He graduated from the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts (BAVPA) with a "Visual Arts" diploma in 1999. While at BAVPA, White wrote for the school newspaper, co-illustrated the papers only comic strip and appeared on the BAVPA Morning Show. In early 1999 White, along with other students from BAVPA helped to renovate Shea's Performing Arts Center in The Downtown Buffalo. In 2013 White's middle son Andrew was diagnosed with neurological problems including motor and tic disorders as well as attention deficit problems and hyperactivity after being unable to keep his attention on his school work and uncontrollably rolling his eyes and rubbing his fingers together until they blistered.

Literary Career

White wrote his first book Andrew and the Pirates as a way to help both his son's confidence and his schoolwork. After the success of Andrew and the Pirates Keith began work on his second book Big Top Andrew. As of there are 19 books in the "Color-With-Me" series. Each book features 10 chapters. The chapters are followed by a picture to color based on what was just read. The "Color-With-Me" books have been the focus of articles in several newspapers and he has been a special guest at various events around the New York area.

The book Andrew and The Main Event featured Western New York pro wrestling promotion ESW and independent wrestlers Salvatore Morocco and Tango Torrez. Torrez went on to be featured in other "Color-With-Me" Adventure books, including Night of the Living Andrew and Andrew and Collin Save Christmas. Salvatore Morocco and Tango Torrez were reunited in the 2014 release Collin and the Main Event Rematch.

In July, 2013 White and Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman began discussions AbOUT White creating a book featuring both his "Color-With-Me" Adventure characters and characters from the early 90's cartoon The Toxic Crusaders. White gave his followers on Twitter a cover sneak peek of the proposed book on July 21, 2013.

In September of 2013 White made a deal with Data Design Interactive for use of their Ninjabread Man video game character in a Christmas book. In December of that year White's Andrew and Collin Save Christmas came out without Ninjabread Man as a character. It is unknown if he will still appear in a future book.

An official "Color-With-Me" Adventure merchandise store opened in July, 2014 on the website Zazzle. The site offers hats, shirts, playing cards, baby items and more. White said on Twitter that new items will be added in the coming weeks.

On August 15th, 2014 White sent out a cryptic tweet saying that he had a long weekend ahead playing the video game Shutshimi by Neon Deity Games hashtagging the word "research". The message was retweeted by the official Shutshimi twitter page. On August 23rd, 2014 White tweeted out a blurry picture of what appears to be a framed print of the Shutshimi book cover directed at the Shutshimi Twitter page.

"Color-With-Me" Cartoon Classic DVDs

In September, 2014 it was announced that White was working with DVD publisher Cartoon Classics to create artwork for their line of "Color-With-Me" branded cartoon DVDs. The DVDs will each come in a "Color-With-Me" DVD case that features front and back artwork for the child to color. There will also be a place for them to write their name, both on the case and on the DVD disc top. The first DVD in the series was released on September 26,2014 and features the first 9 of the Superman (1940s cartoons).

On October 1, 2014 "Color-With-Me" Classic Cartoons Vol. 2 was released by DVD publisher Cartoon Classics. Volume 2 has artwork from the book Andrew and Collin Save Christmas and features 8 Christmas themed classic cartoons with a run time of 74 minutes.

Special Appearances

During June 2013, the West Herr Auto Group had Keith as a guest as part of the 2013 "Keeping Kids Safe Project" event at West Herr Toyota in Orchard Park, NY. In July 2013 the West Herr Auto Group again had Keith as a special guest at their company picnic. West Herr purchased 1,000 copies of "Andrew and the Pirates" and had Keith at a table signing books and taking pictures with the employees' children.

In August 2013 Keith was a special guest at ChalkFest 2013 in downtown Buffalo NY. He spend the day drawing the characters from his "Color-With-Me" Book series on the sidewalks and letting children color them in with chalk.

In August and September 2013, Keith was the special guest at ESW wrestling events MeltDown and OverDrive to promote the book "Andrew and The Main Event".

In October 2013 the Buffalo International Film Festival hosted a meet and greet book signing with Keith and his "Color-With-Me" book series before the screenings of Magic Camp and Dear Mr. Watterson. A basket of Keith's "Color-With-Me" books were auctioned off at the "2nd Annual Best Sellers Fundraiser" event to benefit The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library's Childrens Literacy Fund in November 2013.

In May 2014, "The Bookworm" in the village of East Aurora, New York hosted White and his book series as part of an East Aurora Families Day event, featuring simultaneous activities, events and special guests throughout different locations in the village.

June 20 and 21 2014, Keith was once again a guest at West Herr Toyota of Orchard Park for the "Keeping Kids Safe Project" event. He gave away free autographed specially marked "West Herr Special EDition" copies of his first book "Andrew and the Pirates" and took photos with the kids.

On October 12 2014 , White was a guest of the Buffalo International Film Festival before the screening of a compilation of short films from both the Buffalo NY area and internationally. Attendants had the opportunity to receive a free special edition copy of Andrew and the Pirates, a "Color-With-Me" bookmark and a mini poster featuring all the "Color-With-Me" Adventure books.

The Bookworm bookstore in East Aurora, New York presented a Teacher's Night on October 16 2014. Keith White Jr. was there to talk with area teachers about his book series and how they could potentially help in the classroom. White then did a book signing/meet & great event from 6-8 PM with his "Color-With-Me" Adventure books.

Film, Television & Radio

On Television White has been on The Thurman Thomas Show, The Andre Reed Show, The Frank Reich Show and other Buffalo Bills related shows on Empire Sports Network.

White has had parts in the movies The Falls, Manna from Heaven (film), Henry's Crime, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol.1 and most recently Sharknado 2: The Second One.

White co-hosted the video game radio show "The Digital Ensemble" on 91.3 fm WBNY from 2005–2010. The show was a talk show that featured news, interviews with notable people in the video game world and music both from games and inspired by games.

In May 2014 it was announced on Twitter that television station WBBZ-TV in the Buffalo NY area is in talks with White to start a Children's television series on weekday mornings. It was not announced what kind of show it would be.

White has been in two Television advertisements for the West Herr Auto Group.

Media Coverage

In June 2013 Keith was featured on Your News Now on Time Warner Cable.

The July 18, 2013 issue of Bee Group Newspapers features an article on Keith called "Someone You Should Know".

The Buffalo News did a full page color article on Keith, his family and his book series on August 19, 2013.

The September 1, 2013 issue of The Source (newspaper) featured a story on Keith and his books.

Sezoni Whitfield of Writers Kaboodle did an interview with White on March 27, 2014. In the interview White discussed how his children feel about his books and how he decides what subjects (be it pirates, the circus or pro wrestling) to use for each new book in the series.

In April 2014 Keith was a guest on the pro wrestling radio shows "Under The Mat Radio" in Baltimore, Md and in May 2014 he was on "Rock N Wrestle" in the UK. Both appearances were to promote the book "Andrew and The Main Event". While on "Under The Mat Radio", Keith announced that he had begun work on a sequel titled "Collin and the Main Event Rematch". According to Keith, the sequel will be released sometime during the summer. Collin and the Main Event Rematch was released on July 15, 2014.

The July 12, 2014 issue of the West Seneca & Elma Sun featured a story focusing on White's first book and how he wrote it so that his son could write a book report at school about it. The story featured new quotes from White about his book series and his family life.

On October 28, 2014 the online magazine Buffalo Rising presented a piece on White's "Color-With-Me" Adventure books. The article featured quotes from White where his described the joy and empowerment he felt when his son wrote a book report on the book Andrew and the Pirates and got an "A" on it. The article was written by Buffalo Rising founder Newell Nussbaumer.

External links

• Keith White Jr. on Amazon.com
• Keith White Jr. on FictionDB
• Keith White Jr. on GoodReads
• Keith White Jr. on Extraguy.com
• Official "Color-With-Me" Adventure store on Zazzle