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Matchup at Adventure Land Golf:
Author Gene Walden's Debut Children's Book Celebrates Diversity and Inclusion
By Andrea Marvin
Best-selling author Gene Walden is a lifelong storyteller, having had a successful career in journalism and penning over 30 non-fiction books.
His debut children’s book, Matchup at Adventure Land Golf, follows the journey of two boys in a golf tournament, seeking to win the Adventure Land Golf Course ice cream trophy.
The characters traverse deserts, mountains, and icebergs, encountering numerous animals and challenges along the way.
In the story, each hole on the course offers a little adventure and a lesson, from finding common ground to good sportsmanship.
The 146-page book has 120 illustrations and is told in rhyme from beginning to end.
Walden explains that the story carries a timely message about diversity and inclusion, as the characters set aside their differences and develop a lasting friendship while meeting people from different cultures.
Further Matchup at Adventure Land Golf weaves in the history of golf with terms, traditions, and golf legends that the boys meet, such as Arnold Palmer.
Author Gene Walden tells us how a trip to Estes Park, Colorado, inspired the story, after he played on a golf course that elk roamed on amid the Rocky Mountain beauty.
He tells us how his grandchildren inspired him to tell the story in rhyme and that the book took several years to write.
For other authors considering writing a children’s book, Walden encourages them to start modestly with a shorter story and to enjoy the process.
Walden is a former newspaper reporter, photographer, and columnist who has contributed to major publications, including The Wall Street Journal.
Walden has penned several books and felt drawn to write children’s stories, a genre he’s enjoying the most.
Tell us about your children’s book, Matchup at Adventure Land Golf.
The story is an adventure of a golf match between two children. I would describe it as Dr. Seuss meets Indiana Jones with a touch of The Wizard of Oz.
Two little boys are competing for the Adventure Land Golf Course Ice Cream Trophy and start out as bitter rivals.
During the competition, they play 18 holes of golf around the world across various terrains, including mountains, deserts, and melting icebergs.
The characters encounter hundreds of animals and face danger. The story is about them working together to overcome challenges and slowly morphing from bitter rivals to good friends.
Who wins is a bit of a surprise, with twists and turns at the very end — I've seen men and women choke up with happiness.
Despite being competitors, the two boys became close friends. What learning lessons from the story do you want to get across to kids?
There’s an adventure for each of the 18 holes with opportunities to impart lessons.
Overcoming challenges by working together is certainly a lesson in the book, as well as how bitter rivals can become friends by finding common ground. And the book is a celebration of golf.
I weaved in many terms, traditions, rules, and the sport’s history, as the characters traverse the course, meeting some of the greatest golfers of all time, like Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer.
The pictures in the book highlight the two little boys — one white, one black —who slowly put aside their differences to become inseparable allies. They meet an Aboriginal man in the Australian outback, an Egyptian woman on a camel among the pyramids, and the ghost of a Scottish golfer. It’s a celebration of diversity and inclusion.
Why do you feel a message of diversity and inclusion is important, particularly now?
A couple of reasons. At the moment, diversity and inclusion are kind of out of fashion with the current administration, and many colleges and corporations are cutting back or eliminating their diversification opportunities.
That said, celebrating and promoting diversity is more important than ever — there's a lot of hatred in this country. I wanted to deliver a message that looks beyond our differences in culture and skin color and sees people for who they are. I think that's a very important message.
How is your book formatted? Is it equal parts text and illustration?
It’s a very long picture book. It might be virtually unprecedented as a book both written and illustrated by the same person.
There are over 120 illustrations, 146 pages in rhyme. The book is large, about 8.5 by 11 inches.
How did your journey move toward writing children’s books? Tell us about your journalism career.
I started as a general assignment reporter and covered virtually everything. Then I specialized in personal finance and investment writing.
I've written about 30 books on stocks and personal finance and worked with more than 50 financial institutions. I was a columnist for many publications, including my hometown Minneapolis Star Tribune.
It was never my favorite topic, but it is a specialty with high demand and few writers with expertise, providing steady work that paid well to support my family.
I wanted to do something I would enjoy, so I started writing a book on current affairs and politics. I realized the only people who would be interested were those who agreed with my point of view.
I scrapped that book and decided to write a children's book instead, with many of the same messages yet delivered in a more entertaining format with beautiful pictures and rhyming text. With a different angle, I could reach a broader audience with a similar message.
My initial inspiration for writing this book came while I was golfing in Estes Park, Colorado, which has a large elk population.
I was playing through this massive herd of friendly elk, and they would just sit by the green and watch me putt, and sometimes I would have to drive around the herd because they were on the fairway.
I remember looking at hundreds of elk with beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background and thinking it would be an awesome children's book. Having two kids competing through different terrains and beautiful settings amid hundreds of different types of animals.
That was about five years ago. I finally had a chance to start working on the book about two and a half years ago, and after a couple of years of writing and illustrating, I published it.
You chose to center the story on golf, a sport you play. What life skills do you feel golf teaches people?
Golf is a great sport because anybody can play it. You want to be competitive yet honorable, and camaraderie plays a big role, too.
It’s a good opportunity to peel back the facade, get to know people, and exercise good sportsmanship. Over the course of 18 holes, even with strangers, you get to know them well.
Since this is your first children's book, do you have any advice for writers considering that genre? What did you discover during your writing process?
First, I would suggest starting a little less ambitiously than I did with something shorter. Again, my book is 146 pages and 120 illustrations, with a little lesson or adventure on every single hole.
This massive odyssey is beyond what I had hoped to create, yet the story took it. It took me over two years to write, with many 16-hour days and probably 100 all-nighters.
I would never do that again, nor do I recommend it to others. I would say start modestly with a less ambitious story, and then just enjoy it.
Creating rhyming sentences in the text was the best part for me. I'd never written a poem and ended up writing one, totaling over 4,000 words. It was the most fun I've had as a writer. After a while, you start thinking, talking, and dreaming in rhyme, taking over your whole brain.
I have two grandkids and have read hundreds of books to them. Their favorite books are the ones that rhyme, and my favorite books are the ones that rhyme, too. So, it just made sense to write the book that way.
Do you plan to write another children's book, or what's next for you?
I do. I have another children's book that's already written that will probably come out in late spring or summer.
I have also created an animated, narrated version of it on my website with music, so you can watch the book there. It's called When Teacher Sysinki Says ‘Nenky.’
The story centers on the magical word Nenky, and takes place on another planet. It’s a much, much shorter book and is a lot of fun, too. And it also rhymes.
Readers can watch the animated and narrated version of When Teacher Sysinki Says ‘Nenky’ for free on author Gene Walden’s website, GolfCrossFitness.com.
Walden is a golfer and launched the website to share his insights and those of leading experts in the golf and fitness arena.
Walden has also led the content development for two Fortune 500 companies. Some of Walden’s best-selling books include The 100 Best Stocks to Own in America and The 100 Best Mutual Funds to Own in America.
He graduated from Indiana University and calls Minnesota home. Matchup at Adventure Land Golf can be purchased on sites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
For more information: golfcrossfitness.com/spinspeed-books/
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