When Henry Winkler was a child, he was sorely underestimated by his parents, teachers and classmates, something that he grappled with for many years.
Now, the Emmy Award-winning actor, director, producer and author, 79, is celebrating the publication of his 40th children’s book, Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond. It's the third installment of the full-color chapter book series, about Maxwell, Emerald Pond’s cool mallard duck.
“This accomplishment feels like an out-of-body experience,” Winkler exclusively tells Parade. “If you told me that I would have my name on one book, let alone 40 children’s books, I would not have believed you.”
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Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler (co-authors) and illustrator Dan Santat. Photo: Courtesy of Henry WinklerWinkler and colleague Lin Oliver are also co-authors of the popular Hank Zipzer young adult series (which includes 28 books and is inspired by Winkler's childhood growing up with dyslexia), and they're gearing up to take their latest book on tour.
“Lin and I are unbelievably happy and proud,” Winkler says. “We’ve already written the fourth book in the Detective Duck series [with illustrator Dan Santat] that will be out in a year.
“What I love about this story is that it is about friendship, jealousy, adventure, the dangers of plastic and [making] sure that you don’t judge a book by its cover, and it’s all in this beautifully illustrated book for emerging readers.”
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The Detective Duck series came about during the COVID-19 pandemic when Winkler and his wife of 47 years, Stacey Winkler, were putting together jigsaw puzzles on their dining room table. Oliver called and suggested a new series that stemmed from the title Detective Duck, one that their other leading character Hank Zipzer, a boy with learning differences, was able to read.
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“I told Lin that I knew exactly where [this character] lives: on a pond in New Hampshire. And that’s where the story started to tumble out of us,” Winkler explains. “When the idea is good, there’s a lot of tumbling.”
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After writing his 2023 New York Times bestselling memoir Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond and touring around the world with it, Winkler — best known as the iconic Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli for 11 seasons on Happy Days — says he learned about “the courage to reinvent yourself.”
He explains, “When you think, ‘I don’t know what to do. I am at a crossroads. I am at a real barrier,’ you can go where your imagination goes. I learned that you have no idea what you can accomplish until you try.”
An illustration from Detective Duck, and The Mystery at Emerald Pond. Illustrator: Dan SantatIn keeping with his vital life lessons, he says that he often meets young readers — children and teens at his book tours and school events — who are learning to navigate dyslexia, autism or other learning differences.
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“I tell them no matter how difficult it is for you to learn, no matter how hard the challenge, it has nothing to do with how brilliant you are,” Winkler says, using his own story as a prime example. “I can’t spell, and I can’t do math. Reading is extremely difficult for me, and yet, there is a workaround for everything. You figure out your own way to negotiate your avenue through the world.”
Winkler remembers applying to 28 colleges and getting into one, Emerson College. Those who learn differently, he says, can benefit from new departments and accommodations in higher education.
“There are entire buildings on campuses specifically for the child who learns differently," Winkler notes. "Once you find that fit, the teen will thrive, have a good time, meet wonderful people, and he or she will see, ‘Oh my God, I am not alone.’”
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Thinking back to his upbringing, Winkler says that he went to a high-achieving high school, where he was always at the bottom of the class due to his yet undiagnosed dyslexia, a learning disorder that affects a person's ability to read accurately.
“You start thinking that you are at the bottom," Winkler explains. "But your own personal strength kicks in, and you realize, ‘I’m not staying here. I am not staying at the bottom.’”
When Winkler meets children and teens who see him as their literary hero, they tell him, "How did you know me so well with the Hank Zipzer series?””
It provides him with a great sense of accomplishment. “Outside of my family, my children, my seven grandchildren and our puppies, I am the proudest of the books, that they exist and, first and foremost, that they make the readers laugh. Lin and I truly believe that humor is the gateway to the reluctant reader.”
Another sense of pride is the activism being carried out by his adult daughter, Zoe Winkler, a mom of three and the co-founder of the organization This Is About Humanity, which supports families affected by immigration issues.
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Henry Winkler. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Henry Winkler“Zoe was sitting on the couch watching the children being separated from their families at the U.S. border. And she thought to herself, ‘Oh my goodness. They could be my sons.’ So, with two other friends, she slowly started figuring out how to take care of these children," he says. "And they now feed some 3,000 people a day, and she makes these trips once a month.”
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With much of his family's work centered around helping children, Winkler encourage families to read Detective Duck and similar books together.
“I did not read until I was 31," he admits. "I was frightened and intimidated. I didn’t think I could. And then I decided that I wanted to read a novel. I wanted to be like everybody else. So, I picked up The Clan of the Cave Bear, and I got lost in the story. What reading does is take you to places you cannot imagine without ever getting out of your chair.”
Not one to slow down, in addition to writing more children’s books, Winkler has a popular new show on the History Channel, Hazardous History With Henry Winkler, and after doing eight episodes, he and his team were asked to do more. He is also working on a new half-hour comedy about an idiosyncratic lawyer.
In sum, life is good, happy and fulfilling. “I’ll tell you what is wonderful — that I am still at the table is an amazing thing to me,” Winkler says. “There are so many people who started when I did, or that I worked alongside, and I am still here having the best time!”
Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond is out now.
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