From as early as he can remember growing up as a child in Virginia and then southern California, Kevin Hartman always loved soccer. He ate, drank, slept and dreamed of little else.</p><p>One thing he didn&#8217;t do enough as a child, looking back now, he said, is read. Sure, he read his schoolbooks when he studied and completed assignments. But he never was much for reading for fun.</p><p>He also had a family cat growing up, a white, fluffy furball named Giggsy.</p><p>Hartman is now 34, married and with a young child of his own. Nearing the end of his second season as the Wizards&#8217; starting goalkeeper, he already holds records for most games played in goal, most wins and most shutouts in Major League Soccer history and is nearing the record for most career saves.</p><p>And now, he&#8217;s put those three important components of his life &#8212; love of soccer, newfound love of reading, and love of cats &#8212; together to become Kevin Hartman, the author.</p><p>Hartman has a children&#8217;s book, <em>Boots Saves the Day,</em> which he actually published in 2005 in the Los Angeles area when he was playing goalkeeper for the Galaxy, but recently began distributing throughout the Kansas City area with the help of the Wizards and a local printer.</p><p>In fact, Hartman held a book signing Friday evening in Lee&#8217;s Summit and Sunday in Olathe, and is holding another one Saturday.</p><p>&#8220;I was working with the literacy program for MLS from 2003-05,&#8221; Hartman said. &#8220;And I always found myself reading Dr. Seuss books to the kids. I always thought it&#8217;d be cool to be reading about soccer in one of those books.</p><p>&#8220;So I sat down and wrote a story that not only gives life lessons to kids, but is also about soccer.&#8221;</p><p><em>Boots Saves the Day</em> is the story of a farm cat who, while stranded in his house during a cold winter&#8217;s day, watches a soccer game on TV. He falls in love with the sport and when the weather warms in spring, he goes outside and finds a soccer game being played among other farm animals.</p><p>Boots finally gets in a game but is immediately whistled for a hand ball by the ref for using one of his front paws to strike the ball. Rather than give up, Boots tries his luck at goalkeeper and becomes the &#8220;best goalkeeper that the farm had ever seen.&#8221; It&#8217;s a short, sweet story about perseverance, setting goals and finding your niche in life.</p><p>Sort of like Hartman&#8217;s path to becoming a successful professional soccer goalkeeper.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just a clever way to make it so I could adapt a cat to being a goalkeeper,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Creating the book was a family affair. Kevin supplied the words, and his wife, Jennifer, an Emmy Award-winning graphic designer, drew the illustrations.</p><p>The couple&#8217;s first child, daughter Chloe, who will turn 2 in November, has served as test subject.</p><p>&#8220;She wasn&#8217;t born when I wrote it,&#8221; Hartman said. &#8220;But she&#8217;s had it read to her earlier than most people.&#8221;</p><p>Giggsy wasn&#8217;t the only feline inspiration for Boots. Hartman&#8217;s nickname throughout his soccer career in southern California was El Gato, &#8220;The Cat.&#8221; It had something to do with the catlike reflexes that have served him well during a 12-season MLS career that&#8217;s gone further than he could have imagined.</p><p>Last season, Hartman broke former Wizards keeper Tony Meola&#8217;s MLS career mark for shutouts, and this season he has added nine more for a total of 76. Hartman needs 17 more saves to pass Meola&#8217;s 1,136 for the all-time lead in that category.