Each word in Brandon Graham’s new children’s book is important to him: ‘They affected him in some way’

T is for Two-time Super Bowl champion. F is for First-time children’s book author.

Three months ago, Brandon Graham closed a major chapter of his life, hanging his game-worn Super Bowl LIX cleats on the shoulder of the Rocky statue and announcing his retirement from football.

Over the previous decade and a half, Graham’s life has been consumed by the sport as he played in 206 regular-season games — the most by any Eagles player in franchise history. Now, after 15 seasons in Philadelphia, Graham is ready to start a new chapter of his life: retirement.

But the former defensive end is already keeping himself busy without football, accepting fan-made awards, taking up hobbies like golf, and publishing his first children’s book. After a storybook ending to his Eagles career, Graham teamed up with former CBS 3 sports anchor Lesley Van Arsdall on a children’s book, BG’s ABCs: Tackling Football and Life, which is set to release on Friday.

“It was just an opportunity that I wasn’t really thinking about,” said Graham, 37. “But then it became really cool to be able to have my kids see their dad do something like this. That’s really what motivates me, my kids. … Whatever you kind of take from [the book], I hope that it’s something positive because it was meant to motivate.”

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The alphabet book, illustrated by Mr. Tom, takes readers through a list of meaningful words and inspirational lessons that Graham lives by, starting with a cartoon Graham telling children, “Attitude changes everything.” The motivational affirmations continue throughout the book.

“Honestly, if I could pick a person that I’d want to write a book with, it would be Brandon Graham,” Van Arsdall said. “And it just came with such an amazing experience. He was so hands-on. … Every single word we chose was based on what Brandon wanted to choose, and each word was important to him. They affected him in some way and kind of shaped him into the person that he is.”

Van Arsdall believes the theme of the inspirational book is to give children hope to dream big and reach for the stars. The pair started working on the project last May, collaborating on the alphabet book in Graham’s kitchen. The idea came about after Van Arsdall published her first book, The Mouse Who Played Football, with Brian Westbrook in August 2022.

“When we had [The Mouse Who Played Football‚] I kind of gave it to a few of my favorite Eagles, so to speak,” Van Arsdall said. “And, you know, [Graham] is so positive about everything. He was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do something like this.’ … So, when we revisited him, he basically said, ‘I really do want to do this.’”

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Both of Van Arsdall’s books with Westbrook and Graham appeal to a younger audience but share a number of real-life messages for adults. With two younger sons of her own, Gray, 14, and Crosby, 12, Van Arsdall knew Westbrook and Graham would be the perfect coauthors.

“When you have these young kids, you just want to help them be positive and dream big,” Arsdall said. “And so these two guys, I couldn’t imagine better partners in writing these books with because they had young kids, they’re used to reading to them at night, and these are the kind of messages you want to pass on to your kids.”

Since Graham received a copy earlier this week, he’s been reading the book to his children, Emerson and Bryson, almost every day.

“Baby boy, he loves it,” Graham said of Bryson. “He loves the animations of it. Some of them got kids in there, and they think that’s them, and it could be. It looked like them.”

But Van Arsdall doesn’t think Graham’s children need characters in a book to inspire them.

“I have two boys and they love sports,” Van Arsdall said. “If there was a role model out there, that’s the role model I would want them to be like. I back that up 100%. Brandon is the best role model for young kids. I knew I wanted to do something with Brandon and I’m just so happy we were able to get it done. I couldn’t imagine a better writing partner.”

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 Promotion for the book starts May 17 with book signings at various Barnes & Noble locations. Here’s a look at the schedule: