First News Children's Newspaper - Official Site > Discover > First News interviews actor and author of the Hank Zipzer stories Henry Winkler

Discover - Interviews

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

First News interviews actor and author of the Hank Zipzer stories Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler is a huge Hollywood actor, producer and director. (Well, he’s quite short, actually!)
He’s most famous for playing The Fonz in a TV show called Happy Days but, now, he is the author of best-selling children’s novels in America about Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever. Bethany (12) met him and asked him a few questions about Hank...

Why did you decide to write books for children?
A man by the name of Alan Berger said to me: “Hey, why don’t you write books for children?” And I said: “No, I can’t, because I’m dyslexic.” I have learning challenges. I was told I was stupid, lazy and not living up to my potential most of my life. And, when you’re younger and you’re told that, you believe it. So, two years later, the same man said to me: “Why don’t you write books for children about your dyslexia?” I said OK and he introduced me to his friend Lin Oliver who became my writing partner. We hatched Hank Zipzer. “Hank” comes from my name, Henry, and “Zipzer” is a woman who lives on the fourth floor of the building that I grew up in. I thought it was zippy. So I chose the name, Hank Zipzer.

The books are funny. Where did you get your sense of humour?
I don’t know. From God. My children have learning challenges because it’s hereditary so it’s passed on, and Lin has a son who has a learning challenge. So, we took the experience from everything that we knew. We knew that we didn’t want to do: “Oh, isn’t it terrible that poor Hank has a learning challenge.” Hey, one out of five kids has some sort of challenge, right? So this kid is funny first! If we don’t make each other laugh, it does not go in the book. One kid wrote to me and said that he laughed so hard that his funny bone fell out of his body. Isn’t that a great letter?

What was it like for you at school growing up with dyslexia?
I am in the bottom 3% in the country of America in academics. That’s why the second book is called I got a D in Salami because I got a bad grade in everything but lunch. I was great at lunch! School was unbelievably hard for me. Teachers didn’t know what dyslexia was at that time. So I was labelled a trouble maker. I was the class clown.

Did you ever imagine that, as a sufferer of dyslexia, you would become a best-selling author?
No. It was a shock to me. I remember seeing the book in front of me for the first time. I smelled it and I rubbed it all over my body. I kept turning it over and I kept looking at it. I couldn’t believe there was this real thing and that I was part of it. Now there are 14 real things. There are 14 novels which is amazing to me. Outside of my children and, out of my whole career, I think I am proudest that these books exist and that kids are laughing.

As a young actor, was it difficult for you to read lines at auditions and learn lines?
Yes. It was not only difficult for me as a young actor, it’s difficult for me as an actor today. Reading is very hard. My eyes, somehow, don’t track the page really well. When I auditioned, I used to improvise. I would read it, instantly memorise it – or as much of it as I could – and I would make up the rest.

What would you say to children suffering with dyslexia or other learning difficulties at school nowadays?
Everybody that is reading this article has greatness inside them. And, it is your job to figure out what your particular gift is. Dig it out and give it to the world and the world cannot wait. And the way that we learn – if we learn slowly, if it’s difficult – has no relationship to our intelligence. Just because we learn differently, that does not mean that we are not incredibly smart human beings. That’s something I need every child to understand.