Henry Winkler, acclaimed actor, producer and director known to many as “The Fonz” in the legendary television sit-com Happy Days, was at Words Bookstore in Maplewood on Monday.
More than 100 people attended, with adults (perhaps not surprisingly) outnumbering children.
Winkler read from and signed copies of “Fake Snakes and Weird Wizards,” the latest installment in The New York Times’ best-selling Hank Zipzer series, which he co-authors with Lin Oliver. Inspired by Winkler’s own experience growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia that made him a “classic childhood underachiever,” the series is about the high-spirited and funny adventures of a boy with learning differences, according to a press release.
Meghan Keane of Words called the event one of the most “vulnerable, touching, sincere” question and answer series she has ever witnessed.
Keane wrote the following on her Facebook page: “So many adults in the audience, many of them very grown men, thanking him for bringing to light that dyslexia is a real thing and that what they were called ‘stupid’ over was really a thing, with a name, and it didn’t have anything to do with their ability to learn — and certainly shouldn’t have impacted feelings of confidence and self-worth like it did him, his entire childhood and adult life….”
To learn more about the book, visit Words’ website.
Enjoy the photo gallery below; click on any photo to start. All photos courtesy of Meghan Keane of Words Bookstore.
