11/07/01
Mattie’s on a Roll!
Book Hits #10 on NYT Best Seller List
Mattie Stepanek, an 11-year-old from Upper Marlboro, Md., with dysautonomic mitochondrial myopathy is experiencing a thrill known by few authors. His second book of poetry, Journey Through Heartsongs, is listed at number 10 on the New York Times hard-cover fiction best-seller list this week.
Mattie, who has been composing poems since he was a toddler, is scheduled to appear on ABC’s "Good Morning America" on Nov. 16, and has been interviewed by a reporter for People magazine.
These are just the latest in a string of thrills for Mattie and his mother, Jeni, who also has mitochondrial myopathy. Mattie, MDA’s Maryland Goodwill Ambassador, has seen all three of his "life wishes" come true since he was hospitalized this spring and summer with severe complications from a tracheostomy. His first book of poems, Heartsongs, was published by VSP Books earlier this year.
Mattie also made a dramatic appearance in the closing segment of the national broadcast of the MDA Jerry Lewis Telethon on Labor Day.
Journey Through Heartsongs, a larger, hard-cover volume of Mattie’s poems, was published in early October by VSP Books. It can be ordered online, through bookstores, or from the publisher for $14.95.
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