Dear Dale, Every Thursday morning, our students practice writing about a variety of topics.  Recently, the writing topic was “favorite books”.

One of our third graders wrote a delightful story about your father’s books being his favorites.  He is enthusiastic baseball fan (especially the Cubs), and a great student.

We wanted to share with you Colin’s story about his favorite author, in hopes that it will remind you of the positive impact your father’s work continues to have on young readers.

-Whitney, Director of Tilden School, Jan. 2019

from Seattle, WA

        

Hello, I just wanted to write to say thank you. I read so many of these books as a young kid, and just seeing the covers of them could have brought me to tears. These books are a major part of my life and a big reason I am so into sports and Coaching High school football at such a young age. These books taught me to have an imagination. I would stay up for hours reading the books! I began to write my own books in the elementary school about sports and my teachers were always shocked about how much detail I put into my stories. I wrote for my high school newspaper for a long time and had great reviews from other teachers, players and parents. Overall, again I just want to thank you for the wonderful time you providing me as a young kid, I will never be able to repay you enough!

-Marcus from Rockford

Just wanted to send a note to tell you what a difference your books have made in our lives. My son discovered the series a year or two ago and has almost read the entire collection! It is so great to see him reading and excited about books! Sometimes I have to tell him to stop reading for fun when he has chores around the house to do : ) Thanks again for the GREAT books! — PS If you ever need a character name in a new book consider “Owen” – it is a great name!

-Kirsten from Little Canada, MN

Reading is NOT my favorite subject in school, but when I read your books I want to keep on reading until the end. You are awesome! I would like to see more books about skiing and swimming. Thanks.

-Angel from Olmsted, Falls, Ohio

I have taught for 30+ years now and still find your dad’s books as enjoyable for my boys to read today as I did when I first discovered them. I teach in a small farming community with a recent influx of Mexican-American children that parents speak little to no English at home. My 6th, 7th and 8th grade remedial readers are actually at a 3rd or low 4th grade level and these books hold their interest, are short to read, and about something they can relate to. Thank you for continuing to write these wonderful books for the children. I find myself reading the new ones too and love what you are adding to his collection. Thank you Thank you Thank you

-Carol from Genoa, Illinois

My name is LTJG Greg Hinkle and I am an officer with VP-9 stationed in Hawaii and just wanted to say your books and the sportsmanship they promote stayed with me all through childhood and helped shape myself and many of my fellow servicemen and women to become the team players we are today. Thanks for sending out such a great message and helping to shape the youth of today to become winners every day.

-Greg from Honolulu, HI

Your father’s books are some of the most exciting books I’ve ever read. I’m very sure that over the years I will have read almost all of his books. I absolutely love to read. So far, Dirt Bike Runaway is one of the most exciting books I’ve read of his. Every month the children in my class have to read a book and so far 3 of my books have been Matt Christopher books. They are awsome! I enjoy them very much. I’m also a big sports girl so I fit right in with these books.Your Friend,

-Jaclyn from MA

I am a teacher at a Native American School in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area. A couple of years ago, the school was giving away some of the old books. I am the K-5 PE teacher and your father’s book Touchdown for Tommy was one of the books that was being given away. Naturally the title caught my eye and I added it to my PE library.We were trying to get our kids’ reading scores up, so I started reading this book to my 3-5 th graders while they cooled down from exercise. They loved it . I found that we had three other books by your father, and I got them interested in reading those, too.Now, I am taking a literature course and I am using Touchdown for Tommy as the focus of an enrichment to my football unit. In the past couple of weeks I have learned so much about your father as a writer. I was unaware of who Matthew Christopher was or how prolifically he had written. When I found this site, and saw it was one of his children who was running it, I had to write to tell you what a gift your father gave to my students through his stories.I am certain my reluctant readers will be very anxious to get their hands on your Dad’s other books. I am requesting our librarian to order as many of them as he can for next year!Again, please know that your father’s work and his stories will live forever in the hearts of children. Though they will never meet, I am going to make sure that my students know who Matthew Christopher, the author, is with the hopes that they will tell their children, too.God Bless,

-Kate from Oneida, Wisconsin

Thanks! I’ll look for those. I had searched high and low for easy chapter books for Craig to read about sports (baseball in particular) when I stumbled onto your Dad’s books. The great thing about them is that not only are they great for a beginning reader, but the easy use of baseball terminology and “color commentary” leave Craig (who gets up in the morning to read the Yankees’ box score) begging for more!We’ll look forward to reading many many more!

-Emily from South Carolina

I am writing to thank you. My son turned 6 years-old and took the SATs one month later. He is reading at a 7.1 grade level. You ought to hear him read your books out loud with inflection!!! We bought a Matt Christopher book at “Books a Million” in Alabaster and turned around on the ride home and saw our son in the back seat in the dark reading the last page. At age 6, he gets more excited about your books than watching television. Thanks

-Clay from Alabama

I am just writing to say thank you for choosing the genre that you did.  Firstly, I am a mother of three children, one daughter, who reads like it’s second nature and two boys, who usually fight every step of the way.  That was until they read your books.  My boys love sports, so they were highly interested right away.  The second reason I am writing is truly why I decided to email.  I am a literacy teacher of 7 years at the elementary level.  I recently started taking coursework in dyslexia training, while concurrently tutor a dyslexic student.  Well, knowing how much my boys loved the books, I decided to take our personal copy of Lacrosse Face Off, and read it with my student.  Well..how motivated he is to read!  He cannot wait until we get to the portion of the lesson where we get to read for understanding and enjoyment!  This next bit of information brought me to tears…tonight, he said to me…”I think I am going to ask for a couple of books by Matt Christopher for Christmas.”  Yes!  Christmas!  You have surpassed electronics and whatever latest gizmo!  After only about a month of reading (twice a week) your book, my student is going to put you on his Christmas list.  I think that is truly amazing and I want to say thank you.  Thank you for making a difference in the lives of my children and my student.  Job well done!

-Clintona from New Jersey