The Townsman talked with Henry Winkler over the phone from his Los Angeles home for a Q&A about his children's book series starring character Hank Zipzer, about coming to Andover and about living with dyslexia.
What's new and different about Hank in "The Life of Me," your 14th book?
It's longer, double-sized and it's yellow and black — we've never used yellow and black before (laughs).
Hank has his first crush. (Writing about that) is different because you don't want it to be mushy, but you want it to be realistic. She is such a cool girl and her name is Zoe, my daughter's name. Zoe is 27 and a preschool teacher.
What of your own personality do you see in Hank?
Hank is based on me, on my inability to learn, my difficulty. The pressure that I felt, wanting so badly to do well, and not understanding why my brain wasn't working like everyone else's. That reality connects with over 2 million readers, from moms, teachers, librarians to kids that know someone with that challenge (of a learning disability).
My imagination has personality, and my brain is a little reluctant.
It's amazing to me — the letters we get, and people write, "I didn't find one chapter, one paragraph boring," or, "I laughed so hard that my funny bone fell out of my body."
If Lin (Oliver, his co-author) and I don't laugh (when we're writing together), it doesn't go in the book. Hank doesn't say, "Woe is me, I've got a challenge." It's, "Hey, what do I do know?"
Hank has perseverance. I believe perseverance is a cornerstone for living.
Whenever I speak, my theme is a quote from Theodor Herzl — I think he said this in 1946 — "If you will it, it is not a dream." I repeat that over and over again.
How does Hank's character connect with readers who have dyslexia or learning disabilities themselves?
It somehow connects with Asperger's syndrome, also high-functioning autistic kids. They've stopped me on the street (to talk about the books). They can clearly see in their mind's eye how Hank feels. That is one of the magnets of the book.
The emotion, the frustration, the trying to figure out how to solve the problems is very real. We have all lived it. The humor is exaggerated.
How did you discover you had dyslexia at age 31?
We took my stepson, Jed, to see the Hopi nation in Arizona because he was studying it for school.
He is unbelievably verbal, but could only write two sentences about our trip. I started in with all the things my parents used to say to me — "Go to your room," and all that.
We had him tested for dyslexia, and everything they said about him was true about me. I had never heard of dyslexia before that. If I bought a piece of pizza, and paid with paper money, had no idea if the change they gave me back was right. That was through my 20s and 30s.
Now, I read thrillers (novels) and I've taught myself to speed read. But reading out loud is still out of the question. I invented the concept of stumbling!
What comes through with Hank is that tenacity. That there is more than one way to solve a problem, and you can come out the other side by using your gifts.
What is your favorite thing about being an author?
My favorite thing is when I get in my car to go to Lin's office, and I have no ideas.
I leave Lin's office and have seven or eight pages in my hands that have made us laugh, or just touches me in some way.
My second favorite thing is meeting the parents and kids who love Hank. They are passionate about him. They know every detail, every mistake.
Talk about your writing process. You don't type?
No, I don't type. Lin sits at her computer, and I walk around on the rug, or sit on the couch or chair in her office. The floor in her office is parquet squares, and I try to fit my shoes in the squares and walk without touching lines.
You'll be in Andover on Mother's Day. Do you have any Mother's Day plans with your family?
I've already ordered the flowers, and they're bigger than usual.
If the character Hank Zipzer and the character of the Fonz from "Happy Days" were to meet, would they be friends?
Oh, the Fonz reads Hank. He writes me a note after each book.
They would be friends. The Fonz would take care of Hank the way that (Hank's friends) Ashley and Frankie do. The Fonz would take good care of him.
Readers love that his friends don't judge him, and watch out for him the way he does for them.
