Thanks to the internet, I finally got to "meet" the illustrator of my book, Kelly Murphy! Check out this video of her doing a school visit:
VIDEO: Illustrator draws children’s interest

My kids were sitting next to me when I watched it and they kept yelling, "Look! It's your book Mom!" every time Hush, Little Dragon showed up on camera. If I have a hard time grasping the whole author-and-illustrator-create-book-
together-and-never-even-meet concept, imagine how hard it is for them to understand! To them it's "Mom's book."

They were even a bit indignant when I told them about Kelly's signing at Books Of Wonder a few weeks ago. "She's going to be signing your book?! Can she do that??"

Ohhhhhhhh kids, but I'm SO glad it's Kelly's book too- have you seen the way I draw??! No you haven't. And there's a reason for that!

:)

Curiosity may have killed the cat.

And it may drive mothers crazy. "Why, Mom? Why?" Especially by the 19th day of summer. But that's a different post.

Curious readers, however, are a good thing. Ms. Pisani's third grade class at Lakeshore Elementary down in Wisconsin read my book and were curious enough to look me up on the internet. And when they read my website, they were even curiouser (I know that's not a real word, but it should be) so they e-mailed me with a bunch of questions. Cool questions, too! So I answered their questions and then I popped some bookmarks in the mail for them. Because they're cool kids, too :)

And they, in return, sent me cool mail. You know how much I love cool mail!! It makes me feel like Mo Willems, but with zero drawing talent and more hair. So my cool mail consisted of a package with stuff like this in it:



Thanks, guys- GREAT WORK!!

Ms. Pisani also warned me that after I get famous like J.K. Rowling, James intends to sell his signed bookmark on E-bay and get rich. Good luck, James!!

And thanks for the vote of confidence :)

Look who made the top of the Bestseller List!

Oh, I know it's not the NYT Bestseller List. But I don't know anyone at the NYT anyway!

However, I do know Candy and Jill and Holly at AppleBlossom Books in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (remember that awesome Big Chair?!) and when I see Hush, Little Dragon perched atop their Bestseller List, it means something to me. It means that they like my book and are making sure it gets into the hands of people who will like it too.

Hand-selling. It's a gift. Thank you Candy, Jill and Holly!!

:)