LeBron James is a global basketball icon, an entrepreneur, a film producer, an actor, an outspoken advocate and the founder of an education academy.
Now the three-time NBA champ and four-time MVP is adding the title of “author” to his repertoire.
King James, 35, has written I Promise, a children’s picture book based on the name of the school he founded in his Akron, Ohio, hometown in 2019. The book is scheduled to be released in summer 2020 and represents the first of a two-book deal James inked with HarperCollins Publishers, the Akron Beacon Journal reports.
His second book, according to the publication, will be a novel for middle school students and is expected to be released next year.
In a statement obtained by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, James explains how he, “just a kid from Akron,” as he often states, was inspired by the current kids from his hometown to pen this book.
“Books have the ability to teach, inspire and bring people together,” James said. “That’s why these books, and the opportunity to get children and parents reading together, mean so much to me. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure these stories are ones that every single kid can see themselves in. ‘I Promise’ is powerful in that way, and I can’t wait for people to read it.”
This comes on the heels of an announcement that all of I Promise School’s 179 students are eligible for tuition-free education at the University of Akron or nearby Kent State University if they fulfill their pledge to graduate high school. They also must pass the colleges’ minimum entry requirements.
