We all know Red October is over, but local authors Mark and Ryan Bryson still had young baseball fans smiling with their children’s story, The Gnatural. With the help of Kristie Bryan and the rest of the York Avenue Elementary staff, Ryan Bryson returned to his alma mater with his co-author and father, Mark Bryson, to share their message, “Read Books, Play Ball! Dream Big.”

The Gnatural is the inspirational story of the smallest bug with the strongest arm and the biggest dream. The main characters, Roy and his best bug buddy Bryce Hopper, have impossible dreams to play Major League BugBall with Sandflea Koufax, Duke Spider, Roberto Clemantis and Mite Schmidt.

Mark shared stories and photos from his 20 years of coaching at MLB All-Star fanfest. He gave the students a backstory as to how many of the guest coaches and former athletes he worked with were once also young dreamers who never gave up.

“I hope that our book encourages young readers to get up, get outside and get a game going. It’s a lot deeper than telling kids just to play sports… we want to motivate children to find what they love and chase after it,” Mark explained.

The students used their creative minds to help Mark and Ryan turn the Phillies lineup into fun bug names. Examples include Trea Termite, Kyle Schwarbug and Tic Castellanos. Some lucky children in the audience got to leave with a free tee shirt or a copy of the book. Mark and Ryan made sure every student left with something, as they gave every student a baseball card.

For Ryan Bryson, connecting to the audience came easy as he was once a student sitting on the York Avenue gym floor listening to other speakers inspire him and his classmates. Reconnecting with some of his earliest role models and teachers was a dreamlike moment for this young author.

“It’s a surreal moment to be back with a real purpose and message. So many memories came flooding back and it made me feel like a kid again and like I’m able to tap back into my youth…I’m so happy to have this opportunity to share our story with the next generation of Knights and making my former teachers smile is the icing on the cake,” Ryan said.

Mark and Ryan also gave a preview of additional stories in the sports series:

BEEBALL (basketball book) with Joel Embee, Flyrese Maxey, Yao Wing and Michael Jordant.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTNING BUGS (football) with Jalinsect Hurts, Saquon Barkleech, Tim Tebug and JJ Wasp.

GNATSCAR (racing) with Dale Earnheartworm, Jr., Denny Hamlinsect and Chase Elliant

And of course the 2nd most popular sport in the world, CRICKET! As the visit wrapped up, it was clear that The Gnatural had done more than entertain. Mark and Ryan Bryson reminded students that they all have a purpose and no dream is too big. As these local authors continue to write, they plan on spreading their message across many other students at many other schools.