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Browning breaks down ABCs of skating World champion to sign new children's book

Source: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
Date: February 2, 2006
Author: Stacy St. Clair
Kurt Browning didn't go looking to write a children's book.

It came looking for him.

The four-time world champion figure skater was gliding along in his professional career when a publisher contacted his agent with a possible book idea. They wanted him to write an ABC book on the sport he has helped define.

Browning, 39, had toyed with private journals and blogs, but he had never written anything for widespread public consumption. He accepted the challenge and spent a year penning ice-related rhymes for each letter of the alphabet.

Browning will share the fruit of his labor at noon Saturday at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave. in Naperville. He'll sign copies of "A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet," before performing with Stars on Ice at Allstate Arena in Rosemont that night.

"I didn't expect to ever write a book," Browning said. "It's amazing how one thing leads to another."

Once he committed to the project, Browning wrote everywhere he went. In ice rinks, on airplanes, on vacation beaches.

Wherever he went, he was dreaming up little skating-themed rhymes.

"B is for boot. And B is for blade. Put them together and a skate is made."

Browning also included skating facts on the side of each page, crediting various skaters for their place in history. He pays homage, for example, to Dorothy Hamill's layback spin and Dick Button's two Olympic gold medals.

The book also mentions the Canadian's place as the first person ever to land a quadruple jump in competition. The same page gives credit to Timothy Goebel of Rolling Meadows for being the first athlete to land three quads in a single performance.

He also made a personal nod to the future on the "L" page, which features a poem about laces. The book's illustrator, Melanie Rose, drew an age-progressed picture of Browning's 2-year-old young son, Gabe, tying his skates.

Browning has been having book signings at stops along the current Stars on Ice tour. He approaches the bookstore events like any other performance. As he autographs books and poses for pictures, he knows it's about making his fans happy and keeping them entertained.

"It's the same thing," he said. "It's meeting people. It's trying to touch them during the brief time they have with you."

Browning has enjoyed the experience so much, he says he'd be willing to try a second book.

"I'd love to," said Browning, also a popular TV commentator. "I never really know what's going to happen next. I feel like my career has been one big job interview."