Matt Christopher

Matthew "Matt" Christopher (August 16, 1917 - September 20, 1997) was an author of children's books, born in Bath, Pennsylvania, the oldest of nine children. He was a prolific author, writing more than one hundred books, mostly children's novels centered around sports.

Christopher was an athlete as a child and turned to writing as a career when his first short story "The Missing Finger Points," was published in a detective story magazine. His first full-length novel was The Lucky Baseball Bat, published in 1954. When Christopher was in his thirties and forties, he played minor league baseball in a Canadian league. He lived in [Lansing, New York]] at that time.^[1]

Though Christopher wrote about many sports, his most frequent subject was baseball. His best baseball books are considered to be Wild Pitch, Catcher with a Glass Arm, and The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. He also wrote many books about football, including Tough to Tackle and Crackerjack Halfback, and Football Nightmare,and soccer, including Soccer Scoop, Soccer Duel, and Top Wing, basketball and hockey. He has written books centred on snowboarding, dirt bike racing, volleyball, golf and many other sports, in addition to a number of biographies of sportsmen and women. His first children's sports book ever published was The Lucky Baseball Bat^[2]

When asked why he wrote sports books for children, Christopher once responded, "Sports have made it possible for me to meet many new people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill."^[3] treyton

In 1993, he won the Milner Award, an award given to an author whose books are most enjoyed by children in Atlanta, Georgia.^[4]

References

1. ^ Behind the Desk With Matt Christopher: The #1 Sportswriter for Kids by Dale Christopher, Little, Brown and Company, 2004
2. ^ Matt Christopher's Bookshelf
3. ^ "Author Interview: Matt Christopher" (in English). Hachette Book Group. http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/Matt_Christopher_%281009189%29_AuthorInterview%281%29.aspx. Retrieved 17 June 2011. 
4. ^ Internet Public Library

Persondata
Name	Christopher, Matt
Alternative names	Christopher, Matthew
Short description	American children's author
Date of birth	August 28, 1917
Place of birth	Bath, Pennsylvania
Date of death	September 20, 1997
Place of death