Undergrounders

David Skuy is from Toronto, ON

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How does a lawyer who holds a Ph.D. in History end up as a writer for young adults?

It’s not a trick question. David Skuy started writing the Game Time series because he wanted to recreate the types of books he loved as a kid. Having a son who is a reluctant reader, David has first-hand knowledge of how difficult it is to engage boys in books in the face of video games and computers. In fact, since writing Off the Crossbar, the first book in the series, David has become greatly involved in this issue and has been speaking to school groups, in the hopes of inspiring them to read.

“I was an avid reader when I was a kid – and until I turned 14 or 15 I only read sports books. In fact, all I really cared about or did was related in some way to sports,” he admits. He has transferred all of that passion into his writing. His aim is to inject a sense of authenticity to novels of this genre and to also infuse a sense of ethics that is often lacking in youth sports today.

“The sports genre has disappeared to a great extent for boys above the age of eight, probably because boys don’t read much. Fantasy aside, the choices are relatively slim. Charlie Joyce was created to fill that void – by offering a main character boys can relate to,” explains David.

David is married and has two children: a son and a daughter. He continues to play hockey and coaches at minor league level. David’s stand-alone novel, Undergrounders, is set for release in Spring 2011.