TOWSON, Md. — A Towson 8-year-old is now a published author.
"I've been waiting for a long time, I've been waiting for months for this book release party and I can't believe it's like finally here," said Orion Filippazzo, the 8-year-old author.
Today, Filippazzo shared "Super Caveman" with the world.
He held a book signing outside his home in Towson.
And for every book sold, he donated half of the sale to HopeWell Cancer Support, a group he's come to know quite well.
"HopeWell is for people like my mom who like have cancer," said Filippazzo.
"I was diagnosed with cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma back in 2019. And I've had two transplants and a ton of treatment, I'm still in treatment. It's been like three years, very difficult for our family," said Anne Sibert, Filippazzo's mother.
His mom's diagnosis and treatment means she's severely immunocompromised, putting added challenges on Filippazzo, as well as his little sister.
"Our kids couldn't go to school, in person, so Orion has been doing zooms since the beginning of the pandemic. And we do really feel like because he has had extra time, at home, he was able to kind of hone all that angst or whatever you want to call it. I mean, I think an eight-year-old doesn't really know how he's feeling. But he's able to put that all that into this book," said Sibert.
The end result is a 76-page-long book called "Super Caveman" that Filippazzo not only wrote, but also illustrated and colored.
By the end of the day, Filippazzo sold 115 books, raising $550 for HopeWell.
And he said he's not done.
"Right now we're working on the second book. So there's going to be a second one," said Filippazzo.
Click here to buy the book.
