Menlo Park: Chelsea Clinton draws large crowd at Kepler’s

Chelsea Clinton, former First Daughter and the closest person to date to earning the title from both parents, came to Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park on April 18 to promote her own work and to sign copies of her book, “It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!”

The 432-page book deals with global problems such as poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, education access, gender equality, climate change and disease, and suggests actions that kids can take to start addressing those problems.

According to Jean Forstner, executive director of Kepler’s Literary Foundation, the bookstore sold 1,100 copies of her book and estimates that between 1,800 and 2,000 people were in attendance. The event was Ms. Clinton’s largest in the U.S. on her book tour so far, Ms. Forstner said, with the largest attendance and greatest number of book sales.

Ms. Clinton credits her own early volunteerism to her reading as a kid a book called “50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth.” As a Stanford student, she volunteered as a reading and writing tutor and at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, according to her biography. She currently works as vice chair of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Seven Eastside College Preparatory School students who were visiting Kepler’s on a field trip had the chance to meet Ms. Clinton first. Each took her or his turn asking a question, and she replied in a softspoken manner, so this reporter couldn’t pick up on what was said.

According to Judy Wong-Chen, a chaperone who works as student services coordinator at the school, the book’s message ties into some of the school’s goals of promoting student advocacy and volunteer work (and encouraging students to read nonfiction).

Eastside student Aniyah Carson told the Almanac afterward, “Knowing someone of her background acknowledges the struggles we go through (as a minority kid) – that she’s not ignorant of what’s going on – is comforting to me.”

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