About the Author

What I'm reading now:

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Wednesdays in the Tower
by Jessica Day George

The Secret in the
Old Clock

The Hidden Staircase

The Bungalow Mystery

Like Kirby Nickel in Airball, I grew up in a small town in Kansas and am a rabid Jayhawk basketball fan. I’ve never played basketball in my underwear, but I used to have a recurring nightmare about walking into the school cafeteria wearing only my pajamas.

I think I was born with a bit of athletic ability, but you couldn’t tell by
seeing me play. I was too worried about the people watching, all those
people in the stands. I didn't want to look stupid in front of them. Of
course, the more I tried to look not stupid, the more likely I was to run
into a pole.

My son is very athletic, and like me, he’s shy. Unlike me, when he steps
onto a playing field, he puts the people in the stands out of his mind and
just plays. For him, the love of the game trumps the fear of looking stupid. As I’ve watched my son and his teammates compete, I’ve seen how powerful that kind of focus is. The kids who excel are the kids who believe they can.

This applies to everything not just sports. I hope when kids—and adults—read Airball, they’ll see they can reach their dreams, too, if they believe they can.

      here was never a time in my life I didn’t love books. I used to get in
      trouble for reading at the dinner table when I was supposed to be
      eating. I used to get in trouble for reading under the covers at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. I used to crash my bike trying to read on the way home from the library, pedaling down the street with a library book propped open on my handlebars. (WARNING: Don’t try this. Really. It’s not safe. Plus it’s hard to read with your book bouncing around like that.)

In the third grade I realized that somebody had to write all those books I loved to read. And wouldn’t it be cool if that somebody was me?

Today, that somebody is me. Because today, some of those books in the library are mine. When I see my books on library shelves, I’m seeing my third grade dream come true.

About Lisa Harkrader

Favorite food: Fresh tomatoes straight from the garden, while they're still warm from the sun. Yum!