Nice Garry: Lyon turns to spinning yarns

Australia's most successful Test off-spin bowler is now the nation's newest children's yarn spinner with the launch of the first two volumes of Nathan Lyon's semi-autobiographical 'Nice Garry' series.

The books, aimed at readers aged 7-10, were penned in conjunction with Michael Wagner (who also wrote the Maxx Rumble series of kids' cricket and football texts) and will hit bookshelves this week.

Lyon is not the first top-level sportsperson to tap into the lucrative children's books market, with former world number one women's tennis champion (and ex-Weber WBBL cricketer) Ashleigh Barty recently releasing a series entitled 'Little Ash'.

Nor is the 34-year-old the only member of the current Australia men's Test team to have trodden the path, with David Warner's 'Kaboom Kid' books that came out almost a decade ago featuring an eponymous central character, 11-year-old Davey Warner.

But while Lyon's fictional cricket hero remains notionally arm's length and carries the name Garry Keenan, there are numerous other elements of the first two volumes – 'Bowled Over' and 'In a Spin' – that are clearly rooted in his regional upbringing.

Ten-year-old Garry's family lives in fictional rural Youngtown (Lyon grew up in the prime cherry-growing country at Young, almost 400km west of Sydney), he has a cricket-loving older brother (Brendan Lyon was a major influence on his younger sibling) and possesses a remarkable talent for bowling.

It's unknown whether that skill will carry Garry on a similarly remarkable career trajectory as his co-creator, with Lyon having completed a fabled rise from curator-cum T20 bowler with South Australia to the tenth-highest Test wicket taker of all time (438 from 110 matches) barely a decade later.

However, it's not simply landing a stock ball that is central to the budding cricketer's development.

The issues young Garry confronts as he finds himself playing against older opponents in a small town and resultantly being exposed to adult behaviour at an early age might also have their roots in Lyon's lived experiences, although his involvement in the project was not motivated by an urge to produce memoirs.

Asked whether he believed 'Nice Garry' might serve as a vehicle for children to become interested in either cricket or reading, Lyon replied: "Probably a bit of both."

"I sat down with Michael Wagner and basically described my childhood, so the storylines are pretty similar to what it was like for me growing up in the country.

"Stuff like not having everything at your fingertips, and understanding that you're going to come across a few different challenges in life.

"It’s also about learning from those failures and experiences, and being able to carry on.

"And if you're part of a small country community, you can quickly learn that everyone has a talent so it's just about unearthing whatever that talent is and getting the most out of it."

In addition to pitching the series at young cricket fans and hopefully encourage them to embrace books as well as tablet screens as a mode of learning and entertainment, it contains themes such as the importance of teamwork, trust and self-belief.

In 'Bowled Over', young Garry finds himself in conflict with his brother when he wins selection ahead of his older sibling, and also realises his bowling aptitude does not similarly apply to his batting or fielding.

'In a Spin' carries messages about the need to maintain flexibility of mindset while also exploring the off-field dangers of online bullying and social media shaming.

Lyon's first venture into publishing comes with a first-hand understanding of his target audience, with his daughters Harper (recently turned nine) and Milla (soon to turn eight) among the first to see copies of the newly minted texts.

"With Harper and Milla growing up, and being at the age where they're quite influenced by social media or the power of their iPads, TikTok and all of that stuff, I thought it was a good opportunity to put across a couple of really important messages," Lyon said.

"But also to get them reading books, like we did when we were kids.

"There's a couple of really nice messages in there about sibling rivalry, and how it's okay to fail but also understanding what that looks like.

"And to understand success and how to cope with it as well.

"I'm really excited by the books going out, and seeing the girls' faces the other day when I showed them the books for the very first time.

"They were pretty well blown away by that."

The 'Nice Garry' series, published by Harper Collins, is on sale from Wednesday (October 5) with further titles expected to be released next year.