New England Patriots Super Bowl champion and children’s book author Malcolm Mitchell shared his newest book “My Super Duper Me” with students in Hardy and Grant counties.
WordPlay Bookstore from Wardensville and its charity WordPlay Connects partnered with Mitchell’s organization, Share the Magic Foundation, which has a youth literacy initiative called Read with Malcolm, to bring his new book to the children in our area free of charge.
Mitchell visited Petersburg Elementary School and Maysville Elementary School in Grant County sharing football exercise tips and sharing his new book which was provided free to each student.
Mitchell concluded his first visit to West Virginia with a special discussion at Moorefield High School which included an interactive reading of his newest book “My Super Duper Me” by members of the East Hardy Wildcats Youth Football team and other children in attendance.
“Anytime I get to talk about the impact of reading, I like to do my best to share the joy I have in it. It was pretty cool to see the kids in the football uniforms. It is great when you come in and they have one perspective of you, then you share more aspects of yourself and they embrace that side of you. It has been a beautiful visit. Randy Moss is easily my favorite football player. I met him on one or two occasions and that connection makes this so much more meaningful. This is such a beautiful state. This was my first visit to West Virginia. It was wonderful to be in this community and learn more about the community. And being a part of the community, because anytime you go to a school you are in the heart of a community. It was great working with WordPlay and we had a fun day together. They did an amazing job securing books for all the kids in the community. I was just grateful to be able to continue the work they are already doing. West Virginia reads, I can tell you that. We had a lot of kids volunteer to read on stage and they were so brave to do that today. That was fantastic,” NFL Super Bowl Champion and children’s author Malcolm Mitchell commented.
Mitchell shared his life’s journey from growing up in Georgia to playing for the University of Georgia and becoming one of the Bulldogs’ all-time receivers to being on the New England Patriots Super Bowl championship run as a rookie in 2016.
Entering college, Mitchell was reading at a middle school level and shared his struggles about reading.
He decided to challenge himself to reading and became a regular at the library.
Mitchell grew up watching cartoons and thought all books were fiction.
He read “The Glass Castle” which made a huge impact on his life and really brought emotions.
During college, he tried to read more and started with “The 48 Laws of Power” book which was too difficult to master.
Taking the advice from a coach on taking small steps, Mitchell turned the pages of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” into the beginning of a joy in reading.
Mitchell founded his charity in hopes to inspire and encourage children to read and give them the tools to accomplish that task.
Mitchell has three children’s books to his credit now and travels the nation spreading the joy of reading.
Back home in Athens, he joined a women’s book club after being helped in a bookstore by a caring woman not knowing his fame with the Bulldogs.
The passion and commitment by Mitchell keeps growing with every book he can provide to the children he meets along his path.
Being a former Patriots player, Mitchell had some fun teasing members of the audience wearing Cowboys and Eagles shirts.
Mitchell had a Q&A session at the end of his talk and the children were very inquisitive.
One child asked who his favorite NFL player was and he said his all-time favorite player was Randy Moss, a West Virginia native who was a star at Marshall University and became a future NFL Hall of Fame player competing 14 seasons with five teams: Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
Mitchell was asked if he had a favorite team other than the Patriots and he jokingly said, wait, there are teams other than the Patriots. His wife is from Atlanta and that is where his family lives now, so he did mention cheering for the Falcons which ironically was the team the Patriots beat in the Super Bowl.
Mitchell grew up watching cartoons and Animal Planet, but wasn’t into football.
His brother was the quintessential football fan and player, so he was the inspiration to play football later in life.
Mitchell could remember learning to read, but couldn’t pinpoint when he started to play football.
He was asked what his favorite song was and didn’t think the kid would know the song or even the singer: “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix.
Another child asked what his favorite animal was and he said he actually had two favorite animals which are sea turtles and the king cobra.
Mitchell was asked his favorite color which is olive green, but did say he really likes the color red and encouraged the kids to go to a college with the color red, especially the Georgia Bulldogs.
Mitchell wrote his first two books when playing football and this third one during retirement and inspired by his children and their journey in school.
Mitchell was happy to sign all the books for the audience after the discussion and posed for pictures with the children who were ecstatic about meeting him and receiving his book.
WordPlay Connects continues to provide educational resources and book author visits throughout the year for local children.
