Chad Pio

Growing up in Illinois, I was caught up in the crossfire of Cubs/Cardinals, Bears/Packers and area college rivalries at an early age. After more than 40 years of enjoying--and encouraging--my favorite sports teams' love/hate relationships, an idea finally struck me when I saw the same fiery passion growing in my own son's and daughter's eyes--and the "RivalReads" book series was born.

With three books in print in a year's time, I earned an Honorable Mention in Mascot Books' 2011 Author of the Year awards. My fourth and most ambitious book, "A Big Hit With the Cubs," was released in the summer of 2012, with plans on taking on more great sports rivalries in the future.

A graphic arts manager by trade, I now live in the Kansas City area and continue to be inspired every day by my wife, Maureen, and my two sports-loving, rival-taunting children.

Updates and book news are available on my Web site, rivalreadsbooks.com. You can also follow my take on kids and sports, my books and sports rivalries on Twitter @rivalreads.

And I recently added "book reviewer" to my many hats, joining with two fellow independent authors to form the Three Lights in the Attic Book Review team. Check out our work at threelightsintheatticbookreview.com