It was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list two weeks after its release. The name of the book? “Travel Team.” Even more impressive, it was the first book that Mike Lupica had ever written for younger kids, straying from his usual books for adults. Since then, Lupica has become one of the most popular children’s sports book writers.

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010, Lupica visited the Wellesley Free Library in Wellesley, Mass., to give a talk to kids and adults about reading and writing and his books. He was even nice enough to give some time to answer a few questions. And boy, was he full of information.

Lupica was the type of kid that loved to play sports. He played baseball, basketball, football, and he golfed (and still does). His all-time favorite athlete was the great Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers. While the sports changed, ever since he was 9 years old he always wanted to become an author.

He absolutely loved to write. Even at such a young age, he would write adventure stories, making himself the main character, which would vary from secret agent to superhero. It stuck with him into adulthood.

Of the 16 books he has written, he has always had a soft spot for “Travel Team.” As it turns out, “Travel Team” is based on his son. Just like Danny Walker from the book, young Alex Lupica was cut from his seventh-grade travel team. Father Mike then became the general manager of the worst team of misfits in the history of basketball. He took all the other kids who were cut to form a team to play against the big team in town.

Where have you heard that one before? You guessed it, “Travel Team.”

“I always loved to play sports as a kid,” he said upon being asked about his book inspirations, “and those experiences combined with my kids’ sports experiences create great inspirations.”

Mike’s favorite author is Elmore Leonard.

“Elmore Leonard is greatest American writer of all time, hands down,” said Lupica.

After reciting the first and final lines of his favorite book by Leonard, he said, “Now at my age [58], if I can remember those lines perfectly, it must be an amazing book.”

About 10 minutes after his interview, a capacity crowd of more than 100 people filed into the Wakelin Room at the library to listen as he gave a talk. Lupica was mainly there to promote his new book, “Hero,” which was released just a week earlier.

“Basically what I did with ‘Hero’ was I took Danny Walker from ‘Travel Team,’ and gave him super powers,” he said. “That’s honestly all I did.

“People ask me why I keep writing books,” he said. “Is it for the money? The fame? For fun? I’ll be completely honest with you. What keeps me going is seeing the younger generation interested in reading my books. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing.”

–Dec. 7, 2010–