Henry Winkler Shares His Story With Sandwich

     Henry Winkler has played many roles in his 30 years in the public eye. During his 10-year run as Arthur Fonzarelli on the 1970’s television series “Happy Days,” he portrayed the iconic rebel with a heart-of-gold.
     On the big screen, he’s played comedic roles alongside Adam Sandler in films, such as “The Waterboy” and most recently, “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan.” As a director and producer, he has helped bring dozens of TV series and motion pictures to life.
     However, when he comes to Sandwich High School next Friday, he will not be playing any of those roles. Instead, he will come as himself in order to tell his own story —that of a young boy from Manhattan who fought against a learning disability and became a star.
     In 2003, Mr. Winkler, 62, and co-author Lin Oliver created the character Hank Zipzer, a young boy from New York whose academic struggles mirror those of Mr. Winkler’s. Since then, he and Ms. Oliver have put 14 books about young Hank to press, and have just recently completed revisions on a 15th.
     Their most recent release, The Life of Me (Enter at Your Own Risk), hit shelves on May 1.
     “Never in a million years,” Mr. Winkler said, when asked if, during his own childhood struggle with dyslexia, he ever thought he would become an author.
     Mr. Winkler’s agent pushed him into the world of writing, suggesting that the books would be a good outlet to share his story with children.
     After a brief meeting with Ms. Oliver, Hank was created.
     “We met over lunch and hatched Hank, and now there are 15 novels,” Mr. Winkler said. “It just blows me away. I had no idea that I could be part of a team that could write a novel.
     “We shared every word, every rhythm,” he said. “She sits at her desk, and I walk around her office and talk, and we’ve sold over two million books.”
     Mr. Winkler said that while the story lines in the Zipzer novels, which often feature the young man’s search for clever solutions to outlandish situations, are exaggerated versions of his own youthful misadventures, the emotional struggles faced by Hank are drawn directly from his own experience.
     “The humor is exaggerated, but the trials and tribulations are exact,” he said.
     “There are scenes where he’s having an argument with his dad, and I remember it like an argument I had with my own father 10 minutes ago, but, in reality, it was years ago.”
      As result, Mr. Winkler said, children who read the books can relate to Hank.
     “Kids read the books, and they all identify,” he said. “They either know Hank or they are him.”
     Mr. Winkler said that while one never “gets over” dyslexia, he was able to find ways to get around it.
     “You do learn to live with it, you learn to incorporate it,” he said.
     While he has always struggled with reading, Mr. Winkler discovered that he was able to read and enjoy thrillers. In effort to boost his own confidence, he began reading that particular genre of books.
     “I learned that I could read thrillers; for some reason my brain could follow them,” he said. “I felt, oh my God, I am able to do this. That’s why I have to keep every book I finish on my shelf. Each one is a triumph, each one is a mountain.”
     Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, during a time when dyslexia was either misunderstood or unheard of by most, Mr. Winkler was able to forge his way into a career in acting by finding his own unique way to solve problems.
     He eventually earned a bachelor’s degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a master’s of fine arts from Yale University in 1970.
     “You have to learn to beat your own system,” he said. “You have to be organized or you’re dead.”
     That brand of determination, which he has endowed Hank with, is what draws so many to the character, Mr. Winkler said.
     “They love Hank because he is so resourceful,” he said. “If he can’t find a way to solve a problem, he’ll reach outside the box and find another way. Hank’s a Weeble; you knock him down and he gets right back up.”
     Mr. Winkler, who earned two Golden Globes for his role as Fonzie, said that the positive reaction he has gotten from families for the Hank Zipzer books ranks as one of the greatest accomplishments of his life.
     “That’s an award,” he said, comparing fans’ personal feedback to the plated accolades he received as an actor “I have so much fun at the book signings…I tell my own story, I read from the book, and I answer their questions.”
     Though he is known to most of the world for playing a character with supreme coolness and confidence, Mr. Winkler said it is not hard for him to talk about his younger, more insecure self.
     “It is not difficult at all,” he said. “In fact, it’s helpful. People will come up to me and say, ‘That’s my mother; that’s my brother; that’s my husband.’ Everybody knows somebody with a learning disability.”
     Besides, he said, the kids who read the books don’t know him as The Fonz, anyway.
     To his young readers, he is first and foremost the co-author of the Hank Zipzer series.
     “There are many kids who only know me as an author, and they show up to the readings with their well-worn copies that they’ve read so many times,” he said.
     Mr. Winkler said there is one more Hank Zipzer story planned, which will tell of his graduation from sixth grade and his move to junior high school.
     After that, he said he’s not sure if he will continue to write.
     Though he still struggles with reading and writing, he said he has embraced the experience wholeheartedly. And, most importantly, he has been able to share his message about persistence and determination with children.
     “Without a doubt I still struggle,” he said. “Whether it is mispronouncing words or not being able to spell, I am in the bottom 3 percent in America academically,” he said. “But that’s the whole point of what I talk about in the books. There is greatness in every child, and it is their job to figure out what their gift is, dig it out and show the world.”
     All books from the Hank Zipzer series will be available for sale at the event.  Doors to the Sandwich High School auditorium will open for seating at 6 PM. Henry Winkler will only sign Hank Zipzer books at this event. 
     For further information, contact Titcomb’s Bookshop at 508-888-2331 or check its website: titcombsbookshop.com.