Carl Deuker's Official Website

Ask a Question updated on June 29, 2009.

March 18, 2009 Dear Mr. Deuker, It is my pleasure to inform you that your book, Gym Candy, has been chosen as one of the 22 titles on the final reading list for the 2010 Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award. Students in grades nine through twelve throughout Illinois will read from this list during the coming months and will vote for their favorite title early in 2010. The winning book and author will then be announced in late February, and the award will be presented at the fall 2010 conference of the Illinois School Library Media Association, which sponsors the Abraham Lincoln Award as well as three other students’ choice awards for younger readers. Your book was nominated for this award by the high school students and librarians of Illinois, and was selected for the final reading list from over 150 total books nominated this year. In 2009, over 200 high school and public libraries participated in the Abraham Lincoln Award. Participating libraries will be providing for their students multiple copies, especially in paperback, of the 22 titles nominated. We would greatly appreciate it if you could make your publisher aware of this pending demand for copies of your work. We congratulate you on your selection as an Abe Award nominee. Sincerely, Kathleen Shannon Abraham Lincoln Illinois H.S. Book Award Committee Chair

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Published over 15 years ago, Heart of a Champion remains one of my most popular novels.

READERS WRITE BACK

Dear Mr. Deuker,


I had to write you to tell you about an amazing thing that has just happened. But before I do, I would like to tell you about myself. My name is Jeffrey S. and I am currently 25 years old. I have spent my whole life in H-, Ca until recently when I moved an hour up north to live in my deceased grandmother's house. This led to a lot of nostalgia taking place, but I had no idea how much this would lead to.
My story actually begins when I was 11 years old in fifth grade. On Jan. 4th, 1994 my father died of a heart attack in his sleep. Sometime within the next year in sixth grade, I found your book "Heart of a Champion." I was hooked with it from the beginning. This astonished me because I do not read books. To this day, when people ask me about what books I like, I tell them "Actually, I don't like to read books, but there was one book back in my childhood that I loved. It is the only non-school assigned book I have read cover to cover." Sadly, sometime after reading it, I lost the book and could never find what happened to it or the exact name of the book. Since, I never spent much time in bookstores or sadly even libraries I figured I would never come upon it.
This is where the story gets strange. Recently, since moving, I have been taking an hour and a half long train ride to work most days and have been wanting to find a good book or two to read while heading to work. Last week on July 20th, I took my fiancee to Target to get her a birthday present (she just graduated from a culinary arts college in baking and pastry and wanted a professional KitchenAid mixer and I did not want to buy it without her out of fear I'd get the wrong one). After we found her present, we headed over to the book aisle because she LOVES reading books of all kind. This made me start looking as well. That is when I found "Heart of a Champion" on the bottom shelf. I quickly scanned through it and said, "This is THE BOOK! This is the book I always talk about." Out of everywhere to find it, I found it in a Target near my new home that carries maybe 100 books.
This morning I finished it after 3 days of reading and I remembered why I loved it so much. I have always been a huge baseball fan (GO ANGELS! Sorry about 2002), and the richness of the baseball text would hook me into a scene and let me visualize the scenarios in my head and create so much suspense. However, while that was amazing stuff to read, the real "heart" of the movie was the relationships Seth had with Jimmy and, even more important for me, his mom. I can relate to Seth so much. The feelings of having a friend who had a dad, no matter how bad he was, and thinking how lucky he was and didn't even know it are feelings I have had many times. Then the conversations with his mom about what Seth's dad was like and how he would do the smallest of things that would remind the mom of his dad. My mom and older sister have always been telling me small things about my dad that are hard to remember and telling me I remind them of him.
Ultimately, one thought of Seth's has stuck out for me. This is right near the end when Seth knows that there is a hole in him, an emptiness that should have been filled by his father. This emptiness has always been with me, throughout my childhood, my graduation from high school and college, as well as my relationship with my fiancee, K--. Lately, the emptiness has been very present as I think about the man my father was and how he took care of a family and did everything the man of the house should do. In just over a month, on August 30th, I am getting married and the only thing that could make my life better would be if my dad was around to see me get married. I would pick his brain for everything. I would ask him if I have made him proud over the last 14 years. I would want to know how he liked my bride and everything about her, and maybe most importantly, I would want every ounce of advice that only he could give me on being a husband and hopefully in a few years, a father.
I wanted to write you to thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this book and somehow letting this book find me twice in my life at very different times (in sixth grade I was a lost little boy and now I think I have overcome hardship and with the help of those really close, made a great life for myself) and ironically at very similar times (when I feel I have needed my dad the most). I have always been a huge believer of fate and think that this has given me a great reason to believe that somewhere someone is looking out for me and my family.
As I wrap this up, I wanted to ask you a few questions that I had. How did you come about writing this story, especially the stuff about Seth and losing his dad and the subsequent relationships with his mom and Jimmy? Secondly, I am a big movie fan and one of my favorite movies is the Sandlot. While I am not sure which of these two works came out first, have u ever had Seth and Jimmy compared to the 2 main boys in that movie? As I read this book, I have to admit those were the 2 kids I visualized in my head as Seth and Jimmy. Thank you once again for this amazing work.


Jeffrey S

Dear Mr. Deuker, My name is A. I’m 17 years old and currently a student at N V high school in N, IL. I don’t typically enjoy reading novels. However Runner was a lot of fun to read. I thought Runner was fast-paced and had a lot of twists and turns. We read the book as a class and I think it’s safe to assume that the class enjoyed it as well. There are a few questions that seemed to have been left unanswered even after I finished reading the book. Chance’s mom was brought up early in the book and it seemed like she was going to play an important role later in the story but didn’t play and active role in the development of the plot. What was the significance in Chances mom to the book? I would have also liked to have known what Chance decided to do after he graduated high school. Did he join the military? Did he continue his relationship with Melissa? Thanks for writing a book we could all relate to in someway. The class and I really enjoyed the book. I hope I get to read some more novels written by you soon. A. N, IL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Mr. Deuker, My name is Ale. and I am a senior at N V High School in N. IL. In my English class we read your book Runner. I normally hate reading and I won’t read unless I have to. However, your book kept me so interested that I actually wanted to keep going to find out what was going to happen. I like the style you used because it related to real life situations that a lot of teens or many people go through. I personally had a father who was a drinker and had alcohol problems, so I could relate to the book in many ways. I also think that your book helps a lot of other teens see that they are not alone in situations like that. I believe it helps them make better choices so they don’t get themselves in bad situations like the one Chance was in. Your book kept me very interested in reading and hope to read other books by you in the future. It made me reflect on my life and I’m glad I got the chance to read your book. Sincerely, Ale.

Dear Mr. Deuker, I read your book High Heat, It was an amazing book. I loved it! Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down! One of my teachers recommended it to me last year, but I never got around to reading it. I needed a book for class to read for my book project so I took my teachers recommendation and read it. I'm reading Night Hoops now. Its a very good book so far. Are you working on any new books? If so I would love to read it when it comes out! You're one of my favorite authors! I just wanted to thank you for writing such great books! Sincerely, Silvana M.

Thank you, Nebraska readers, for choosing High Heat as your Golden Sower Award winner. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! CARL