Dan Gutman’s creativity covers topics from computers to baseball, and he has published almost forty books in just over a decade of writing. Gutman began his freelance career as a nonfiction sports writer but has concentrated on juvenile fiction since 1995. His most popular titles include the Baseball Card Adventures series and a clutch of other baseball-themed books. From presidential candidates to stunt men, nothing is off limits in Gutman’s fertile imagination. He is now a master of children’s fiction who says, “It is fun to write, and I discovered how incredibly rewarding it is to take a blank page and turn it into a WORLD.” Check out his fun books in the My Weird School and My Weird School Daze series for early readers, as well as the Baseball Card Adventure series for middle grade readers. Visit his website to learn more about the author and access games and classroom activities: www.dangutman.com.

.

Gary W. Moore is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Playing with the Enemy. The book won the Military Writers Society of America Book of the Year Award and is currently being made into a major motion picture. He is also a contributing author in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Moore is a successful business executive and entrepreneur, a dynamic motivational speaker, and talented musician. Gary and his wife, Arlene, have three grown children and live near Kankakee in Bourbonnais, IL. Visit his websites to learn more about the author, his book, and the movie: www.playingwiththeenemy.com and www.garywmoore.com.

Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home

Inspired by true events, Gary W. Moore’s highly personal non-fiction book is an engaging read for teens and adults. Moore’s book reveals the real-life story of his father, Gene. It was true in the 1940s and it is still true today: if you have talent, people take notice. In Gene’s case, that talent attracted the Brooklyn Dodgers. Word quickly spread across the U.S. about the farm boy who could hit the ball a country mile. But as Moore prepared for the Big Leagues, his destiny was interrupted by Pearl Harbor. After playing ball for the Navy in the Azores and North Africa, Moore and his military team were sent to the States for a special and top secret mission: guarding German sailors captured from U-505 (the submarine now on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry). Moore convinced his commander to allow him to teach the enemy the game of baseball. Author Gary W. Moore, Gene’s son, did not learn of his father’s remarkable odyssey through World War II or of his days in minor league baseball until the day before Gene’s sudden fatal heart attack. The stunning news sent the author on his own odyssey as he researched his father’s life and interviewed dozens of people. Production of the major motion picture based on the novel starts in April 2009, and Gary’s son, actor Toby Moore, will play the role of his grandfather.