PEORIA, AZ – A Peoria teenager who grew up with a penchant for garbage trucks published a book about a career that can often be “ungrateful.”
13-year-old Benji Cocking had published his own book, Benji’s Garbage Trucks, last week, which is now sold on Amazon and in Barnes & Noble.
Cocking grew up in Peoria, where he knew every garbage truck and driver on his route and waited weekly to see them.
“He was so excited when he was young,” explained his grandmother Roberta Cocking.
Roberta tells ABC15 that her grandson was so intrigued by trucks that he would play with them, but she said he was disappointed that there weren’t many children’s books with real pictures of the trucks.
Roberta and her grandson, then six years old, decided to create their own book that featured real garbage trucks from across the country and even from around the world.
The book begins with an emphasis in Peoria.
“They say these are some pictures of garbage trucks coming into my town of Peoria, Arizona,” said Cocking as he read the beginning.
The Waste Management Department in the city of Peoria stopped by Wednesday to celebrate Cocking’s book that was just published, in a garbage truck of course.
ABC15
Now that Cocking is older, he has a different admiration for the big trucks, how they work and how they work.
The paperback sells for $ 15.00 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
“Our goal in writing this book was to make little boys happy who love the garbage trucks as much as Benji did when he was little,” his grandmother wrote on a social media post.
Roberta says the feedback isn’t just from little boys who love the book, but also from little girls who love the garbage trucks.
