Chris Heimerdinger (born August 26, 1963) is an American author who has written twenty novels for adults and young adults, most famously the

Tennis Shoes Adventure Series The ''Tennis Shoes Adventure Series'' is a series of LDS fiction novels written by Chris Heimerdinger. They are most widely read by young adult members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Titles There are thirteen books in the ser ...

. He is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

(LDS Church), and most of his stories center on religious themes familiar to

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

Early life

Heimerdinger was born in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

. His father was a professor in theatre at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

. His parents divorced when he was four years old and his mother remarried. Heimerdinger has one older brother and two younger sisters. Heimerdinger excelled in Wyoming High School competitions for three years in the categories of Humor, Oratory, and Drama. He began to write books at the age of 7, and continued through high school. He also began making

super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted ...

films beginning in junior high, and showed these films to the scholarship committee of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

in 1981, earning a full scholarship in 'Theatre and Cinematic Arts'BYU Daily Universe – Barney J, "Student loves direction: Hopes to help world with movies, mission". August 22, 1983 after receiving a

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...

'Most Promising Filmmaker' award for his film ''Night Meeting''. Heimerdinger read the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...

at age 18, during his first semester at college, and was baptized into

on Oct 10, 1981.

Books and films

Heimerdinger is the author of the

. His first published work was ''Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites'' (1989), based on events in the Book of Mormon. Thus far thirteen books have followed in the series, the first of which features three children who discover a secret cave capable of transporting its visitors back in time. The following books continue with the original characters as they go to college, get married, and have kids. The characters also have to deal with death, parenting troubles and time travel. The first books in the series were intended to be a fictional account of the

, while later ones explore other historical eras, including

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

during the Roman destruction in A.D. 73, and the time period of the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

. The last five novels in this series include research notes at the end of each chapter. In 2005, Heimerdinger began production of ''

Passage to Zarahemla ''Passage to Zarahemla'' is an adventure film directed and written by Chris Heimerdinger. It tells the story of a young pair of siblings seeking to find a new life following the abrupt death of their mother. Their exploits lead them to a relativ ...

''. Originally written in 1999 as a screenplay entitled "Summer of the Nephite" it was published as a novel, ''

'' in 2003. The film was released to cinemas in October 2007 and as of 2011 ranks in the top 150 for both Christian and Fantasy Live-Action films. It was released on DVD in June 2008. In August 2011, a book sequel to ''Passage to Zarahemla'', entitled ''Escape From Zarahemla'' was released by Covenant Communications, Inc. A self-published novel, ''Muckwhip's Guide to Capturing the Latter-day Soul'', was released as an ebook in November 2012 and as a paperback in December 2012. In 2008, Heimerdinger was among the top 10 list of

LDS LDS may refer to: Organizations * LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, US Religion * Latter Day Saint movement (LDS movement), a collection of independent church groups **The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest group within th ...

authors as chosen by Mormon Times readers.

Public service

Heimerdinger utilizes the title of his Tennis Shoes Adventure Series in helping around the world. In August 2005 Heimerdinger joined with Hearts and Hands for Humanity in

American Fork, Utah American Fork is a city in north-central Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north from Utah Lake. This city is thirty-two miles southeast of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Provo–Or ...

to help collect tennis shoes for children 5 to 12 years old. In 2007, Heimerdinger again joined with Hearts and Hands for Humanity to collect tennis shoes. This time it was in honor of a dead soldier, Nathan Barnes, of American Fork, Utah. The goal this time was to collect and send thousands of tennis shoes to Iraq.

Works

Novels

#''Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites'', 1989 (republished 1999),

Covenant Communications Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), th ...

, #''Gadiantons and the Silver Sword'', 1990, Covenant Communications, #''Tennis Shoes and the Feathered Serpent'', part one, 1995, Covenant Communications, #''Tennis Shoes and the Feathered Serpent'', part two, 1996, Covenant Communications, #''The Sacred Quest'' (formerly ''Tennis Shoes and the Seven Churches''), 1997, Covenant Communications, #''The Lost Scrolls'', 1998, Covenant Communications, #''The Golden Crown'', 1999, Covenant Communications, #''Warriors of Cumorah'', 2001, Covenant Communications, #''Tower of Thunder'', 2003, Covenant Communications, #''Kingdoms and Conquerors'', 2005, Covenant Communications, #''Sorcerers and Seers'', 2010, Covenant Communications, #''Drums of Desolation'', 2014, Covenant Communications, #''Thorns of Glory (Part 1)'', 2020, Covenant Communications, Other books *''The Absurd Adventures of Elders Kurds and Way'', (also ''Kurds and Way, A Missionary Epic''), 1987, Heimerbooks *''Eddie Fantastic'', 1992, Covenant Communications, *''Daniel and Nephi'', 1993, Covenant Communications, *''Ben Franklin and the Chamber of Time'', 1995,

Deseret Book Company Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...

, *''A Light in the Storm'', 2000, Covenant Communications, *''Passage to Zarahemla'', 2003, Heimerdinger Entertainment and Covenant Communications, *''A Return to Christmas'', 1996, multiple publishers, *''Escape From Zarahemla'' (October 2011, Covenant Communications) *''Muckwhip's Guide to Capturing the Latter-day Soul'' (December 2012, Heimerdinger Entertainment, )

Music CDs

*''Whispered Visions—Original Songs From the Motion Picture

Films

*''The Wolves'' (1987): Drama about a grade-school boy's club. Produced, written, and directed by Heimerdinger while a student at Brigham Young University. Distributed by Phoenix Films, BFA. *''Lehi's Land of First Inheritance'' (2003): Documentary on Book of Mormon geography produced by Newlight Productions, Written by Chris Heimerdinger and Joseph Allen. Directed by Chris Heimerdinger (Dist. by Newlight Prod. and Sounds of Zion, Inc.) ASIN: B000N3WAFM *''

'' (2007), a feature-length action/adventure/fantasy movie based on the Heimerdinger book of the same name. The movie version was written and directed by Heimerdinger and was released to theaters October 15, 2007.

Notes

External links

* * About the Author of ''Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites'' at th
Book of Mormon Adventures website
* Brian Mickelsen

''Meridian Magazine'', 2001, accessed 2008-05-12 *

Richard H. Cracroft Richard Holton Cracroft (June 28, 1936 – September 20, 2012) was an author and emeritus professor of English at Brigham Young University (BYU) where he held the title of Nan Osmond Grass Professor in English and spent time as head of BYU's E ...

"Through a Glass, Brightly: Happenings in Book of Mormon Fiction: Review of ''Daniel and Nephi''; ''Samuel, Moroni's Young Warrior'' by Chris Heimerdinger & Clair Poulson"
''

FARMS Review of Books ''Mormon Studies Review'' is an annual academic journal covering Mormon studies published by the University of Illinois Press. Previously, until and including its 2018 issue, the journal was published by Brigham Young University's Neal A. Maxwe ...

'', vol. 6, no. 2 (1994) pp. 118–121 {{DEFAULTSORT:Heimerdinger, Chris 1963 births 20th-century American novelists 20th-century Mormon missionaries 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American novelists American Latter Day Saint writers American Mormon missionaries in the United States American male non-fiction writers American male novelists Brigham Young University alumni Converts to Mormonism Latter Day Saints from Indiana Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Wyoming Living people 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers