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Q/A: Lesley Van Arsdall on Writing Her Second Children’s Book with “Deep Thinker” Brandon Graham, Who Took a Lead Role in the Project

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 5th, 2025 · 9:55 AM EDT

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Brandon Graham had a lot to think about in 2024 and 2025. He was entering what we thought would be his final Eagles season, then he was hurt, rehabbed a torn biceps, and returned for the Super Bowl beatdown. He reinjured himself while capturing his second Lombardi Trophy, seemed to think about coming back for a 16th NFL season, then ultimately retired, going out on top as one of the greatest Philadelphia Eagles of all time.

Along the way, he agreed to co-author a children’s book with former CBS 3 reporter and anchor Lesley Van Arsdall, who had written The Mouse Who Played Football with Brian Westbrook two years earlier. Fast forward to this week, and it’s the release of BG’s ABCs: Tackling Football and Life, a book that goes letter-by-letter through the alphabet as a combination educator and motivational tool to get children thinking about words like “attitude” and “confidence” and what can happen if you apply their meanings to whatever you decide to pursue in life.

You can pre-order here ahead of the May 9th release: BG’s ABCs: Tackling Football and Life

We caught up with Van Arsdall, who explained the process for writing the book and how it all came together.

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Crossing Broad: The new book is called BG’s ABCs, Tackling Football and Life. Tell me about it.

Lesley Van Arsdall: Basically it’s all Brandon, 100%. We went over the book letter by letter, for example, A, we went over pretty much every word that begins with A: awesome, amazing, and the word ‘attitude’ came up and he goes, ‘that’s what I want.‘ Then (the process) would be, ‘okay, what does attitude mean to you?‘ And that’s kind of how we went through every letter, doing that, getting his take on what that meant to him growing up, how it inspired him.

He really wanted to do this because he has two young kids and reads to them all the time. He wanted something to inspire young kids and that’s what this does such a great job of.

CB: So he took a lead role in this? Coming up with the words and the copy? That’s fair to say?

LVA: Yeah. He chose every single word. His choice. And then he basically told his own story. We just had to whittle it down to put it into a one or two-sentence structure that would appeal to kids. But you know Brandon. He’s the best. I started covering the Eagles the year he was drafted. I saw him in that positive ray of light, and I remember one of the older writers saying, ‘yeah yeah, that’s not going to last.‘ But with him, and you know this covering athletes, you see how they kind of become jaded over the years, but Brandon just held that positivity and he would never shy away from the media when a lot of other players did. Win or loss, he would talk to you, he would give you thoughtful answers, and I know just from having two boys, I want role models to be like Brandon. I couldn’t think of a better one.

CB: When I saw his name pop up on this project, that was my first thought, that B.G. would be perfect for something like this.

LVA: Yeah exactly, and we actually gave him a copy of the Brian Westbrook book that I had written, and he said ‘okay, I want to do this.‘ And I was like.. ‘you do?‘ (laughs). And he said yeah. That’s kind of how the ball started rolling.

Honestly, I was looking it up before you called, and it’s almost been one year to the day that we started this. Usually it takes, believe it or not, almost two years to get a book out. They fast tracked it because we kind of knew going in it was going to be his last season. We wanted it to (come out after the season), when he retired, do the book promotion then. Then he got hurt and he was kind of wrestling with the thought of coming back for another season. I just think with him coming back and then winning the Super Bowl, I love his whole arc of his career, it was perfect, you know?

CB: Walking away on top, especially.

LVA: Yeah, and being that great of a guy. I will say he’s my favorite athlete I’ve ever covered. Always a great guy. You know how it is, sometimes people don’t like us (the media) very much (laughing). Trying to interview people about certain things. But he was always there 100% and I don’t know if there’s another athlete you can say that about.

CB: Did you plan to write a second book after working with Brian Westbrook, or did this end up in front of B.G. and his interest sparked a follow up? What was the genesis of book two after book one?

LVA: We wanted to do another book. We were talking to a couple of people. And I don’t know, agents get involved and all of that stuff, then I just remember thinking, ‘oh my gosh, what about Brandon?‘ So we revisited with him and he goes ‘yes I want to do this.’ Then it just became a point of when was he able to do it, because his schedule is so packed. That’s when we said, spring is it. That’s our one window. We literally set up in his kitchen and started writing and recording and tried to hammer this out over however many days.

CB: So it’s accurate to say the entirety of the book was written in Brandon’s kitchen?

LVA: Pretty much, yeah! Of course we had several follow up phone calls and rewrites, but it originated in B.G.’s kitchen.

promotional photo

CB: Going way back to the beginning then, you did the book with Brian Westbrook in 2022. Where did that come from? Did you have thoughts of doing a children’s book at some point during your TV career? How and why did that come about in the first place?

LVA: A little bit, and it was funny because I actually had the idea before we even approached Brian. I was reading a lot for my kids and I’m like, ‘you know, there needs to be more inspirational books for kids,’ something positive. My kids were obsessed with sports from a very young age, so (they were familiar with the concept of) athletes as heroes, but some (athletes) are not the greatest guys. I knew Brian and just remember writing this story about a little guy, because my kids were little and I don’t know if they’re going to be able to do anything (in athletics), and I was thinking, ‘what about a mouse who played football and blah blah.’ Then I was talking to my husband about it, and he says, ‘you do know whose story this is, right?‘ It’s Brian Westbrook. He was absolutely right, this is Brian’s story, and he was always the underdog and always overcoming this and that. His story is amazing. He went through so much more than people even know. He struggled every step of the way and even when he was on the Eagles he had to prove himself again and again.

That’s how that kind of happened. And it was really about catching people at the right time. Brian’s kids were super young. He wanted to leave something, his legacy, he was trying to build that. (Writing a book) was absolutely for him, like with Brandon. It was the right time in this life and he really wanted to do something positive that kids would read over and over again, and I’m hoping this will have the same lasting effect with Brandon too. I think it’s really cool.

And the illustrator did a phenomenal job, he did the mouse book too. He’s a great talent and the pictures make the book.

CB: Let’s shout out Mr. Tom. How did you come to work together?

LVA: We lucked out finding him. We talked to a few illustrators about their ideas for the book and had them send some pictures. With the mouse, it was all over the place. Some of the pictures were a little creepy (laughing). And we were like, ‘okay! that’s not exactly what we’re going for here.’ And Tom just hit it out of the park. It was unbelievable. For this book, we didn’t tell him anything, just sent him a text and he did his thing. We’d give our input and Brandon would ask if we could change a thing here or there, but for the most part we loved everything he did. There were minimal notes, I’ll say.

CB: You mentioned that when you would read to your kids you were looking for more stuff with a motivational message. Was that the extent of the goal with these two books, or was there something else from your own experience that influenced the approach?

LVA: You know, I just wanted them to always dream big, and just give them hope that if you work hard, maybe you’re told you can’t do something, you really can if you apply yourself. I just wanted them to have the inspiration and hope that yes, anything is possible. I think both of these books are exactly that.

CB: And something you can take away. You close the book and have a lesson to carry. I’ll read my daughters something like Alice in Wonderland, and we’re done and it’s like… ‘alright! that was… quirky and weird!‘ But what’s the larger takeaway? You know what I mean? Brian and B.G. both give evergreen motivational stories here.

LVA: Yeah, and I think it was really interesting getting to know (Graham) more. We know him as this great, positive guy, but he’s really a deep thinker. Everything in that book he truly believes. It was refreshing to hear that a huge athlete in Philadelphia, his morals are amazing. What he grew up with and believed in. That’s a great thing to share with kids, that hey, he’s just like you and he had big dreams too. Yes, not everyone is going to become a pro athlete, we understand that, but everything in it is positive and a good lesson and something you want your kids to believe in.

CB: Life after television – how’s it treating you and what do you make of your time at CBS 3 now, looking back?

LVA: I’m so happy right now because my kids were really young when I was working at channel 3, and as you well know, that’s a time-consuming job. You get called in at any hour of the day. Your schedule is never your own because of sports or news or what’s driving the day. Now my kids actually need me, and well, I’m a glorified chauffeur right now, but they need you to be there for them. My oldest son is now a teenager. They have real issues and they’re dealing with a lot of stuff and I’m happy with how everything happened at the right time for me. Glad to be enjoying this new chapter in my life and I’ve always kind of wanted to do kids books. Never had the chance and now I have this awesome opportunity, which I have to say presented itself because I worked with athletes at CBS. I got to know these guys, and that’s why I’m able to do this now. It all worked out in the best possible way for me.

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B.G. and LVA will be promoting the book at the following signing sessions over the next several weeks:

• May 17th: 11 a.m. – Barnes and Noble Broomall / 3 p.m. – Barnes and Noble Bryn Mawr
• May 31st: 10 a.m. – Children’s Book World Haverford / 1:30 p.m. – Barnes and Noble Center City
• June 7th: 11 a.m. – Wheelhouse Sports Wayne / 3 p.m. – Barnes and Noble Devon