Buckley, James, Jr. 1963–

PERSONAL: Born January 25, 1963, in Washington, DC; son of James F. and Alice Buckley; married Patricia Kelley (a graphic designer), 1992; children: Conor, Katie. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1985; Radcliffe Publishing Course, certificate, 1985. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Office—Shoreline Publishing Group, 125 Santa Rosa Pl., Santa Barbara, CA 93109. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: East West Network, New York, NY, senior editor, 1988–89; Sports Illustrated, New York, NY, editorial project manager, 1989–93; Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara, CA, columnist, 1993–94; NFL Publishing, Los Angeles, CA, associate editor, then senior editor, 1994–99; Shoreline Publishing Group, president and editorial director, 1999–. Member of boards of directors of Santa Barbara Foresters Baseball and Transition House (homeless shelter).

MEMBER: American Book Producers Association (member of board).

AWARDS, HONORS: Sports Story of the Year, California Newspaper Publishers Association, 1994; Top-Ten Sports Books for Children designation, Booklist, 1998, for America's Greatest Game.

WRITINGS:

The Lost Cowboy Ghost, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1996.

America's Greatest Game: The Real Story of Football and the NFL, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1998.

NFL Rules!, Hyperion (New York, NY), 1998.

Football ("Eyewitness" series), Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 1999.

Baseball ("Eyewitness" series), Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

Rumbling Running Backs, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Spider-Man's Amazing Powers, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Strikeout Kings, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Super Shortstops: Nomar, A-Rod, and Jeter, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

The Visual Dictionary of Baseball, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Home Run Heroes, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Monster Jam: The Amazing Guide, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

NBA All-Time Super Scorers, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

Peyton Manning, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Roberto Clemente, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Jim Gigliotti) Baseball: A Celebration!, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2001.

Play Ball!: The Official Major League Baseball Guide for Young Players, photographs by Mike Eliason, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2002.

NBA Superstars, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2002.

Bill Bradley, Rosen Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.

Great Moments in Football, World Almanac (Milwaukee, WI), 2002.

Great Moments in Hockey, World Almanac (Milwaukee, WI), 2002.

(With David Fischer) Baseball Top Ten, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2002, 2nd edition, 2004.

(With Jim Platt) Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement, photographs by Matt Silk, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Perfect: The Story of Baseball's Sixteen Perfect Games, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2002, expanded edition published as Perfect: The Story of Baseball's Seventeen Perfect Games, 2005.

(With Robert Stremme) Scholastic Book of Lists, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2003.

The World of Baseball (reader), Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Super Bowl, 2nd edition, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Venus and Serena Williams, World Almanac (Milwaukee, WI), 2003.

The Incredible Hulk's Book of Strength, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2003.

Life in the Pits: Twenty Seconds That Make the Difference, Tradition Books (Excelsior, MN), 2003.

(With David Fischer) Ice Skating Stars, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

Speedway Superstars, Readers' Digest Children's Publishing (Pleasantville, NY), 2004.

World Series Heroes, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

One Thousand and One Facts about Hitters, statistics compiled by Matt Marini, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

(With John Walters) Sports in America: 1900–1919 (first volume in 8-volume series), Facts on File (New York, NY), 2004.

Space Heroes: Amazing Astronauts, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2004.

The Starting Line: Life as a NASCAR Rookie, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2004.

(With Phil Pepe) Unhittable: Reliving the Magic and Drama of Baseball's Best-Pitched Games, Triumph Books (Chicago, IL), 2004.

NASCAR: Speedway Superstars, Reader's Digest Children's Books (Pleasantville, NY), 2004.

Muhammad Ali, World Almanac Library (Milwaukee, WI), 2004.

American Football Conference North: The Baltimore Ravens, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2004.

American Football Conference South: The Houston Texans, the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tennessee Titans, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2004.

American Football Conference East, Child's World (Chanhassen, MN), 2005.

Scholastic Book of Firsts, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

The Bathroom Companion, Quirk, 2005.

NASCAR ("Eyewitness" series), Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2005.

A Batboy's Day, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2005.

(With David Fischer) Greatest Sports Rivalries, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 2005.

Let's Go to the Ballpark, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2005.

World's Biggest Everything, Time Inc. Home Entertainment (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: In addition to his work as a professional editor, James Buckley, Jr., is also the author of many books on American sports that are geared toward young fans and budding athletes. Focusing on baseball, he has produced Play Ball!: The Official Major League Baseball Guide for Young Players, Baseball: A Celebration!, and A Batboy's Day, the last the profile of a teen who helps set up batting cages and makes game-day preparations for the Anaheim Angels. Buckley's books on football include America's Greatest Game: The Real Story of Football and the NFL and Football, the latter part of Dorling Kindersley's "Eyewitness" series. School Library Journal reviewer Richard Luzer noted that America's Greatest Game, which features full-color photographs of players ranging from little league to professional, is "certain to be a popular browsing item for young football fans." Other books composed primarily of photographs includes Baseball, which contains 800 memorable images from the history of the game. While also fully illustrated, Play Ball! serves as a primer for budding players, covering warm-ups, the responsibilities of each position on the field, and batting techniques, all geared for elementary-aged readers. Reviewing Play Ball! in Booklist, GraceAnne A. DeCandido noted that Buckley's prose is "lively, the language nonsexist …, and the advice sagely rendered."

Buckley, who has founded a company called Shoreline Publishing Group to produce books for reluctant readers, maintains that sports are far more than simple hobbies or ways to burn off excess energy. In fact, well-known athletes frequently serve as role models for young children, and in his biographies of athletes such as basketball player Bill Bradley and baseball player Roberto Clemente, as well as in Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement, he fosters that influential role. Dubbing the book "a marvel" due to its photographs and layout, Booklist reviewer Bill Ott further described Sports Immortals as "a browsing bonanza for all sports fans." Together with several other writers, Buckley and Shoreline Publishing Group have also produced an eight-volume history of American athletics titled "Sports in America," which follows the influence of sports on both U.S. culture and history on a year-by-year basis. Sports in America: 1900–1919, Buckley's contribution to the series, profiles such high-profile events as the notorious 1904 Olympic Games held in St. Louis, as well as developments in professional sports and individual human achievements in everything from swimming to running. Noting that the volumes in the series "face controversies head on," Michael McCullough wrote in the School Library Journal that the books provide students and general readers with a "well-written, well-researched" resource.

Buckley once commented: "For as long as I can remember, sports have been central to my life, whether as a player, a fan, or a coach. Since high school, I've known that I wanted to be a writer, and I've been able to combine my love for sports and writing.

"I sort of fell into writing for children, and enjoyed it immensely from the start. And through a variety of adventures in the publishing trade on both coasts, I have arrived at a point where I seem to be doing nothing but writing about sports for kids.

"But shouldn't I be writing about something more serious for kids, something that will help them develop as members of twenty-first-century society? Is sports something kids should read about when there are more important things out there? To people who think that, I say 'Lighten up.' When presented in the right way (and I hope readers and parents agree that our books are done in that 'right way'), sports can teach as many lessons as a lecture from a teacher. History, character, perseverance, style, physical fitness, goal-setting and goal-achieving—all these are part of the story of sports in the books I've been lucky enough to write or help create.

"Are there things wrong with sport? Sure, but why focus on the bad things and ignore the good things? My books focus on the good things. Let kids learn the bad stuff later. When they read the books I've written about sports, they're having fun. Do we teach them some things too? Well, sure.

"But don't tell them that.

"Through my own writing and through books produced by my company, the Shoreline Publishing Group, I'm working to disprove the theory that 'boys don't read,'" Buckley more recently added. "The vast majority of our products are aimed at young boys with a love of sports. We've had nothing but success with combining exciting sports action and facts with great design to make books that boys not only read … but love!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1998, p. 582; October 1, 2001, Isabel Schon, review of Roberto Clemente, p. 328; November 15, 2001, Wes Lukowsky, review of Baseball: A Celebration!, p. 539; March 1, 2002, Wes Lukowsky, review of Perfect: The Inside Story of Baseball's Sixteen Perfect Games, p. 1077; May 15, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Play Ball!: The Official Major League Baseball Guide for Young Players, p. 1593; September 1, 2002, Bill Ott, review of Sports Immortals: Stories of Inspiration and Achievement, p. 44, and Roger Leslie, review of Bill Bradley, p. 129.

Library Journal, February 1, 2002, Robert C. Cottrell, review of Perfect, p. 103.

Natural History, April, 2002, George Gmelch, review of Baseball, p. 94.

School Library Journal, February, 1999, Richard Luzer, review of America's Greatest Game, p. 114; July, 2002, Blair Christolon, review of Play Ball!, p. 104; February, 2005, Michael McCullough, review of "Sports in America," series, p. 82.

Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 2002, review of Bill Bradley, p. 213.