Athletes deliver life lessons for kids in 'Middle School Rules'

Sean Jensen wasn't thrilled with the "naughty" characters that turned up in the books of his young son. So he decided to tap his experiences as a sports reporter and write books featuring real-life role models.

The result: "Middle School Rules," a series aimed at kids highlighting stories and life lessons from professional athletes.

The newest book spotlights Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles.

Jensen said he noticed that when his son Elijah was 4 years old, the books he read featured boys doing "very mischievous things. A basic plot would be naughty boy character does something, is told not to do something, does it anyway, becomes a misadventure and then at the end of the story there's a tiny, tiny, little message.

"As a father it horrified me," Jensen told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

"I'm thinking to myself as he reads these, it's creeping into his mind that it's OK to do these things, it's OK to be naughty. It's OK to be mischievous especially because my parents are Christian and they're going to forgive me and show me grace.

"I thought to myself, 'Well, if you don't want him to read these types of books, what would you want him to read?' "

Jensen, a former St. Paul Pioneer Press sports reporter, found inspiration for his book series in the back stories of some professional athletes.

"The challenges that they had to overcome, the family issues and dynamics that they had to deal with to achieve this dream," he said. "For me, that was worth celebrating."

Click on the audio player to hear their conversation.