Happy June, and happy SUMMER! It's a time for travel and #lakelife and watering the hydrangeas. And it's also a month to celebrate kindness! My new picture book (Penguin Random House) features illustrations by Junghwa Park and is a new take on the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas" song.
Instead of: "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."
On the first day of KINDNESS, I WILL GIVE TO YOU...
It was a lot of fun coming up with simple ways kids (of all ages) can be kind...and the audio version features not just a read-aloud, but a SING-A LONG. Fun fun fun!
In other backstory news, I sold this book 6 and half years ago. I know! Some of these picture books take a LONG time! I also had help from my local SCBWI critique group. Read more about that here.
It's dedicated to my (very kind) editor Stacey Barney, who welcomed me to the industry with my first novel for kids LEAVING GEE'S BEND. We've worked on a lot of projects together since then, and she has continued to offer me much kindness. I'm so grateful!
And...the main character in the book has a broken arm.
Have YOU ever broken a bone? If YES, please tell me your story! Simply reply to this email.
I myself have broken my right arm twice—once while having a "who can jump the farthest off the swingset" contest with my brother Ken; the other when my sister Lynn and I were riding together bareback through the woods and asking our pony Rusty to jump over fallen logs.
Rusty jumped! And I landed on the ground, snapping my wrist. (Lynn miraculously stayed aboard!)
My favorite memory of each experience is the kindness shown me by others...and how that inspired kindness in ME. And now, all these years later, there's a picture book about that very thing.
