Matt Christopher

Author · 136 books

Matt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers. Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author. "I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself. Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine. After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954. I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course. Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer. I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books. Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession." Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.

Series

Books

Skateboard Tough

Great Moments in Baseball History

Red-Hot Hightops

The Dog that Called the Pitch

Dirt Bike Racer

Body Check

At the Plate With … Ichiro

The Home Run Kid Races On

The Kid Who Only Hit Homers

The New York Yankees

The Dog That Stole Football Plays

Snowboard Maverick

Long Shot for Paul

Shoot for the Hoop

Football Double Threat

Ice Magic

On the Field with…Derek Jeter

Johnny Long Legs

On the Field with...Peyton and Eli Manning

Serena Williams

Babe Ruth

Soccer Cats #2

On the Halfpipe with Tony Hawk

Soccer 'Cats

Halfback Attack

The Lucky Baseball Bat

Soccer Halfback

Soccer 'Cats

Center Court Sting

On the Field with…Tom Brady

Stealing Home

The Basket Counts

Karate Kick

The Diamond Champs

The Dog That Pitched a No-Hitter

Run, Billy, Run

Undercover Tailback

The Winning Stroke

Catch That Pass!

Lacrosse Firestorm

Long Arm Quarterback

Supercharged Infield

Baseball Flyhawk

QB Blitz

Great Americans in Sports

Long Stretch at First Base

Hard Drive to Short

Football Fugitive

Touchdown for Tommy

Matt Christopher's All-Star Lineup

Soccer 'Cats

Soccer Duel

Football Nightmare

Mia Hamm

Soccer Cats

Little Lefty

The Fox Steals Home

The Counterfeit Tackle

No Arm in Left Field

On the Mound with … Curt Schilling

Tight End

Hot Shot

Catcher with a Glass Arm

In the Huddle With… Steve Young

The Reluctant Pitcher

Baseball Turnaround

On the Court with… Lebron James

On the Court With… Shaquille O' Neal

Baseball Pals

Dirt Bike Runaway

Dive Right In

Pressure Play

Great Moments in Basketball History

Skateboard Renegade

Tough to Tackle

Look Who's Playing First Base

The Spy on Third Base (Peach Street Mudders)

On the Ice with…Tara Lapinski