Bree Donovan has never run up Agony Hill, a challenging stretch of the race course for the annual Prefontaine Memorial Run.

She’s never been to Marshfield High School, or to the house near the school where Steve Prefontaine grew up. She hasn’t been to Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, where he took his homegrown distance-running talent to a new level on his way to international fame.

Donovan lives far from Prefontaine country — on the other side of the United States in New Jersey.

But Donovan knows more about Pre than most of his avid fans, and she’s sharing that knowledge in a book due out next year, “Steve Prefontaine — Rocket Man.”

The book is aimed at the children and young adults Donovan thinks could benefit by learning about Pre’s passion for running, his passion for life and his desire to always do his best.

She was instantly struck by one of his famous quotes: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

Donovan has seen firsthand the impact of Pre’s inspirational story in a group of young singers who agreed to record a song to go with the book, and, in the process, raise money for elementary school students in Coos Bay.

“The day of the recording, one choir member said to me, ‘When you came in and spoke to us about him, I was so surprised there weren’t more books for young people about him. There should be. He is an inspiration.’” she said.

Donovan, herself, never heard about Prefontaine while she was growing up in New Jersey, something she hopes to change in future generations.

She first learned about Pre more than 20 years ago. She was engaged to a runner from Ireland who, like Pre, died young.

“He was enraged that I was from America and didn’t know who Prefontaine was,” she said.

The idea to write the book took off last winter, when Donovan came across “Without Limits,” one of the Hollywood productions about Prefontaine. That sparked a memory of what her late fiancé had said, and she quickly watched that and the film “Prefontaine” and documentary “Fire on the Track.”

“I thought it was inspirational,” she said. “I always look for stories for my children to read. I thought somebody should write a book about Prefontaine.”

Donovan left her job as a social worker to write the book, while working part time as a substitute teacher.

She spent hours on the telephone talking to Pre’s former teammates, coaches and friends, listening to their stories. She wanted to write the book from the perspective of a fictitious narrator who goes through school with Pre and tells his story through the eyes of others.

While Donovan was able to chase down many of the contacts through her story, she got a big lift when Linda Prefontaine, Steve’s sister, agreed to help with the project.

Donovan now considers Linda co-author of the book because of all the help she has given.

“She’s done so much,” Donovan said.

Linda Prefontaine was initially skeptical about a request to help with a book, because she’s had many requests for information over the years and become more apprehensive over time.

“Originally, I thought, ‘Here’s another person who has big ideas,’” she said.

But Donovan was different.

First, she wanted to donate proceeds from the book to a charity of Linda’s choice, which became the music, art and physical education programs at Blossom Gulch Elementary School, where the Prefontaine children started their learning. Those programs have been hit hard by budget cuts.

Second, Linda found that Donovan had a gift as a writer.

“A lot of people write, and they don’t get it,” she said. “They’re just writing. Maybe there isn’t a lot of feeling there.

“She has the feeling that goes with it. She has the heart that goes with it.”

Third, Donovan didn’t have a set agenda, Linda said.

“She was really open to my suggestions and what I had to say about it,” she said.

Via e-mail, Donovan sent passages of the book and Linda made suggestions.

“She would write something and run it by me and I’d say, ‘No, that’s not the way it happened,’” Linda said.

The result has been a book that both co-authors are excited about.

“Together, we have created something that is going to be a great read for anyone,” Linda said.

To date, only one major book has been written about Prefontaine, by Tom Jordan and titled: “Pre: The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine.”

“There are always people who write magazine articles,” Linda said. “They all say the same things.

“This has a lot of color to it.”

The added bonus for Donovan was when the singers in the group ChildrenSong agreed to help out with a recording of Elton John’s song “Rocket Man” to go along with the book, knowing they would be helping the students in Coos Bay.

ChildrenSong is a New Jersey program in its eighth year that works to enrich the lives of children from all religious, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds through providing music instruction. Donovan met with the children in the group — ranging in age from 12 to 17 — and educated them about Prefontaine before they recorded the compact disc. Proceeds from the CD, along with the book, will go to Blossom Gulch Elementary School, and the singers learned they would be helping raise funds for the programs here.

That process was exciting for Polly Murray, the founder and artistic director of ChildrenSong.

“As a music educator who believes in giving every child the chance to study music, this was a great opportunity for the kids to share in the mission of ChildrenSong and help the kids in Oregon,” Murray said.

Linda Prefontaine said the recording goes hand in hand with the book.

“That’s kind of a neat story, too,” she said. “(Donovan) educating the kids as to why they are doing this and how it will help kids in Coos Bay. It went from kids who didn’t have a clue who are pumped up about this project and knowing who Steve was.”