My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World by Malcolm Mitchell

And he’s getting more hands-on in the day-to-day aspects of running of his foundation. But the same body that yearns for these moments can no longer support it. For most of his life, he explains, his body learned to find reward in these moments, for the neurons to fire up and deliver him sheer joy. His brain and his body yearn for him to be a football star, for him to catch a pass in front of capacity crowds, to elude tackles, to sprint toward the end zone. That story is the inspiration for a greenlit TV pilot Football Book Club (although the studio postponed production because of the pandemic).Ī year after his announcement at TEDxUGA, Mitchell says retirement is still hard-harder than he had expected. He asked to join, even though he would be the youngest, the only male, and the only Black member. During a chance meeting at the Athens Barnes & Noble, he met a woman who was part of a small local book club. He became curious about becoming a better reader. It wasn’t until his time at UGA-when he realized he had a hard time even reading labels at the grocery store-that he started to have a change of heart. Despite his love of reading and writing now, he had no interest in books as a child. It’s a journey Mitchell knows something about. In the story, Henley searches to find a book that speaks to him. It’s about a reluctant reader named Henley who gets what he thinks is “the scariest homework assignment in the world”: finding his favorite book and sharing it in front of his class. His next, My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World, comes out this month. He’s the author of the children’s book The Magician’s Hat. It includes programs like ReadBowl, which creates reading competitions between schools across the nation and even around the world.įormer Bulldogs wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell reads from his first book, The Magician’s Hat, at the Alumni Association’s Cookies and Cocoa event in Dec. Opportunities to grow and expand.”Įven before his retirement, he founded the literacy foundation Share the Magic, aimed at inspiring a love for reading in children.

It’s about understanding there is a bright light in that cycle of unforeseen storms. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, how much money you have, how well you’re liked. But he gathered himself and declared his resolve to move on. Onstage, he paused, fighting his body’s urge to break down and weep in front of everyone. He was 25 and retiring from a career he had trained for his whole life. “My knees have finally had enough,” he said. Under bright lights on an otherwise dark stage at the Classic Center, Malcolm Mitchell AB ’15 revealed what had become inevitable, if also unthinkable.īefore thousands in the audience at the 2019 TEDxUGA speaker showcase, the stand-out Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver and New England Patriots Super Bowl champion laid out the long list of injuries he suffered in the sport that has defined him.

My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World by Malcolm Mitchell