Q&A with Fred Bowen

 

 

 

Fred Bowen is the author of the new middle grade novel Special Teams, the latest in his Fred Bowen Sports Story series. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Special Teams, and how did you create your character Leo?

 

A: My son is the head baseball coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He had a player who was a very good pitcher but also wanted to play in the field and bat when he wasn’t pitching. He was not as good a player as he was a pitcher.

 

After a couple seasons my son sat him down and told him, “Luke, you are just going to have to be satisfied with being the best pitcher in the conference.”

 

He did become the best pitcher in the conference for the next two seasons. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals and is now pitching in their minor league system.

 

In Special Teams, Leo wants to play wide receiver because those are the players who score touchdowns and get all the glory. His particular skill set, however, makes him better suited to be a defensive back. The book is about how Leo comes to terms with that.

 

The writer and professor Scott Galloway has advised young people (mostly young men) not to “follow their dreams” but instead to find something they are good at and that contributes to society. I think that is good advice and applicable to sports and life in general.

 

Q: What do you think the book says about the role of special teams players?

 

A: I think it says that a team needs lots of different kinds of players with different kinds of skills. Not everyone can play the glamour positions – quarterback, wide receiver, running back – but everyone can help in the best way they know how.

 

The special teams players, the players who are on the field for punts and kickoffs, are important too. They sometimes are the difference in the final score.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: Years ago, I listened to a friend’s presentation on one of her children’s books. She described all the research she did to write the book. Later I confessed to her that I felt like a fraud because I didn’t do anywhere near the research for my books that she did for hers. She said, “Fred, you have been researching your books for your entire life.”

 

In a way that’s true. I write sports books for kids and I have been a sports fan since I was 5 years old. I also coached more than 30 youth sports teams. That passion for sports has helped me get 30 books written and published.

 

For Special Teams, however, I did have to do some online research. I was surprised to find so many terrific videos on YouTube showing drills for defensive backs. I described Leo doing some of those drills in the book.

 

I also researched the players who have scored the most “non-offensive” touchdowns in the history of the National Football League (NFL). Those are touchdowns that are scored when the other team started with possession of the ball. They are plays such are kick returns, interceptions, etc.

 

I write about some of those players in the special sports history chapter that I put in the back of each one of my Fred Bowen Sports Story series books.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: Most of all, I want my readers to have fun. I have written 30 books in the last 30 years and that is always my overriding objective when I write a book. The point is to make the reader want to know what is going to happen next and by doing so fall in love with reading.

 

A couple years ago I read the obituary of the writer Dan Greenburg. He wrote, among other things, the kids book series The Zack Files. He said, “There’s nothing more fulfilling than hearing that you’ve turned a kid on to books. That’s enough for a career right there.”

 

Over the years I have had dozens of people tell me that my books have turned their kid into a reader. I hope Special Teams does that with more kids.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am taking a bit of a break from writing books. I have had 21 books published in the last 16 years. So I think I deserve one.

 

I also stopped writing my weekly kids’ sports column for The Washington Post when the paper discontinued the KidsPost page in 2023. (The Post now has a different kids section under the KidsPost banner.)

 

I am still writing. My daughter gave me Storyworth as a gift last Christmas. Kerry sends me a question every week and I answer it in the form of an email. Storyworth collects the questions and answers and will turn them into a book after a year.

 

For example, last week’s question was: What were you like when you were 30? While I was tempted to give my all-time shortest answer … a thinner redhead … I wrote an essay about what my life was like at that age.

 

The gift has proven to be great fun and a wonderful way for Kerry and me to “talk” to one another. It has also kept my writing skills in tune.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: As I have mentioned above, I have been writing for kids for a long time. I am very proud of my books and Washington Post columns. But most of all, writing the books, visiting schools and speaking at conferences have made my life more fun. It has been a wonderful second career (I was a lawyer for 30 years).

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Fred Bowen.