March 13^th, 2008

San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Author combines love of sports and love of reading

By Maritza Velazquez, Staff Writer

"I will never wash this hand again!"

Ten-year-old Michael Lowrie had just shaken his favorite author's hand. Dressed in baseball gear, he circled around his parents, jumbled with excitement.

The reaction was the same among a group of young boys, most dressed in their baseball uniforms, still dirty after a day of practice.

They were all waiting to hear and meet Mike Lupica, a nationally-known sports writer and New York Times Bestselling author.

On March 19, the Conneticut resident made a pit stop at Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop in La Verne to promote his latest book for young adults, "The Big Field."

But the anticipation from a crowd of about 70 brewed as they waited for the New York Post columnist and ESPN talk show host. He had arrived about 30 minutes late.

"We don't have this kind of traffic on the East Coast!" Lupica joked as he took his place on a small stage in the parking lot of the bookstore.

For a half hour he shared stories of his childhood and his love and passion of both reading and sports. He combined the two when he wrote his first novel, "Travel Team."

His inspiration came from his 12-year-old son getting cut from a basketball team.

"My career as a writer changed because my 12-year- old boy got a letter from a bunch of adults who said that he couldn't play. They had turned sports into the 'Apprentice.' That's how fast my life as a writer has changed."

Before then, his career as a writer had been centered around professional sports. He started out at the age of 23, covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post.

For 15 years, he has served as a television anchor for ESPN's "The Sports Reporters," and even got his own show, "The Mike Lupica Show," on ESPN2.

Now, he's giving kids who love sports another reason to love reading.

"I think it's really great for our community and for our kids," said Mrs. Nelson's Event Coordinator Christa Weise-Amend. "And he's really helped out with the reluctant readers."

She said her 10-year-old son, Brendan Amend, really enjoys sports, but didn't really enjoy reading. These books have created a happy medium for this baseball player.

"He writes good baseball books and he's a suspenseful writer," said Amend, who plays catcher for the San Dimas Little League Angels. "It makes you read the next page."

But it's not just sports enthusiasts, or even just kids who find these novels intriguing.

"I read 'Miracle on 49th Street' with my son. We read every night together and I really enjoyed it. I think (Lupica) just keeps you interested and wanting to know what's on the next page."

While writing his first book, Lupica said his kids, who were on summer vacation, would come up to him everyday wanting to read the newest un-edited pages of his working progress.

"I'm writing stories about regular boys and girls who are trying to do something great," Lupica said.

His latest book, "The Big Field," focuses on a boy named Keith Hutchinson, who has to move from shortstop to second baseman during the middle of the season. He had been replaced as shortstop by the top prospect from Florida, Darryl "D-Will" Williams.

But more importantly, the novel is about the sports language shared between a father and son.

"This book is about something that's really important to me as a dad, and what's important to me as a son," Lupica said. "And that's no matter what is going on in my life, good, bad or indifferent, I knew that if there was a game on, there was a language that my dad and I could speak."

After his presentation and question-and-answer session, he proceeded inside the bookstore to sign books and mingle with his biggest fans.

One of these fans is Gavin Greene, who attended the event along with the rest of his team, The White Sox, a Little League team from Claremont.

"Mike Lupica's a legend! I mean, he's one of the greatest writers of all time. He's a new York Times Bestselling (author)!" he said as he held his newly purchased book, "The Big Field."

(Photos by David Pardo/Correspondent and Patrick Nelson/Employee)

1/27/2008

Nancy Yi Fan made time to visit Mrs. Nelson's during her tour for Swordquest, a prequel to the bestseller Swordbird. She is truly a delightful person and everyone was grateful for the time she spent talking about her books and describing her interest in both birds and swords. An excerpt from her blog is below:

"Then it was time to go to my signing at Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop. Despite the rain, lots and lots of people came, including an old friend who is also named Nancy.  My family and I met Nancy years ago when we lived in Boston.  Nancy was teaching at Harvard.  Her Chinese is so fluent that if you heard her speak but your eyes were closed, you would think it was a native Chinese person talking.  As you can imagine, I was delighted to sign a copy of my new novel for Nancy.  I was able to do a short swordplay demonstration and I was amazed at the number of kids who wanted to touch the sword; and who wanted to have pictures taken with me and my sword!  My special day ended when the booksellers presented me with a stuffed toy cardinal.  When you wind it up, it sounds just like a real cardinal.  I will treasure it always."

View a short video about Nancy's U.S. tour for Swordquest:

Henry Winkler’s Author Visit

Henry Winkler stopped by Mrs. Nelson’s Toy & Book Shop to promote his latest title, “Barfing in the Back Seat,” from the bestselling series “Hank Zipzer.” He gave a wonderfully inspiring and hilarious presentation before signing books for the large crowd of kids. Take a look at this short video created by Joseph Valeucia for more information.