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Wheel Wizards
Twelve-year-old Seth Pender thinks his life came to an end when he suffered a spinal injury that left him confined to a wheelchair. Seth, an athlete who loves basketball, is sure he'll never play again. He grows sullen and silent, unresponsive when his family urges him to try to adjust. Then one day he sees an older boy who, like himself, is wheelchair bound. But this boy is playing basketball! How is that possible? Over the course of three years, Seth (and the reader) learns about the sport of wheelchair basketball: the similarities and differences between it and regular basketball, the skills one needs to excel at it, and the camaraderie that grows amongst the players. By the end of the story, Seth is better adjusted to his life, and ready to reach out a hand to help others find their way.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
438 books141 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 30, 2020
it was a good book really good and i will read it again it deserves all the stars
January 25, 2021
the book I read is wheel Wizards How to spell 12 year old named Seth that got injured in a car accident and wasn't able to walk for the rest of his life he was a basketball player and he could no longer play basketball because he was paralyzed so there is some challenges he has to overcome with his basketball career
What the author does really good that I like is he adds in the stuff like how it would be moving to some audience members such as myself Like how when it showed at supper time during the beginning of the book I forgot what page number it is well it showed how emotional it Can be
I recommend this book about 7 out of 10 1. is me personally I like different types of books then this one And I really like the concept of it but I don't know it's just not my type of book but for people who like Sports books Recommended
Jaxton Hennen
What the author does really good that I like is he adds in the stuff like how it would be moving to some audience members such as myself Like how when it showed at supper time during the beginning of the book I forgot what page number it is well it showed how emotional it Can be
I recommend this book about 7 out of 10 1. is me personally I like different types of books then this one And I really like the concept of it but I don't know it's just not my type of book but for people who like Sports books Recommended
Jaxton Hennen
Read
November 1, 2012This book is about a boy named Seth who suffers a spinal injury that lands him in a wheelchair. He is very upset by this because he loves to play basketball and believes he will never be able to play again, until he meets another boy older than him in a wheelchair that plays basketball. For the next three years Seth watches and learns from the boy as to how it is possible to still do the things he loves even though he is wheelchair bound.
This would be a great book for my students because it is about overcoming obstacles and thinking positively, no matter what situation you are in. You can always make a positive thing out of something negative in your life.
This book would be good for all my students (2nd-3rd grade).
Christopher, M., & Hirschfeld, R. (2009). Wheel wizards. Boston: Little, Brown.
This would be a great book for my students because it is about overcoming obstacles and thinking positively, no matter what situation you are in. You can always make a positive thing out of something negative in your life.
This book would be good for all my students (2nd-3rd grade).
Christopher, M., & Hirschfeld, R. (2009). Wheel wizards. Boston: Little, Brown.
May 24, 2011
It was fine okay, but for a short book it felt so long because he was depressed a long time. but i founde out that just because I love to play basketball doesn't mean i enjoy reading about it.But i didting know so much about basketball in a wheelchair but reading this book i kinder good the fill for it.As you can see there is good things and bath things in this book but i know about my self i need a book who is more interesting.If you want to read this book you haft to love reading about sport.
October 14, 2015
I think this book was a good book. I recommend this book to people who like basketball. It shows that hard work pays off. It is about a kid who is in a wheelchair and he wants to play basketball but he can't because he is in a wheelchair. But he finds a way.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews