Whitney and I had a ball at the Youth Literature Festival in Champaign last week, and the highlight of the entire event was meeting Kayla, a delightful second grader at Westview Elementary School. I usually don’t let kids pet Whitney when she has her harness on, but this was an exception. Kayla is blind, and she’d […]

What a great trip to Denver! In-between a baseball game with a puppy-in-training, a one-on-one tour of the 16th Street Mall with the head security cop there (don’t ask!), a nature walk with an old friend from my days working at the Kane County Cougars and the discovery of a new favorite beer afterwards (90 […]

Tomorrow morning Whitney and I head to Skokie for a “Mix ‘n Mingle” at National Louis University. Twenty children’s book authors have been invited to display our wares to school librarians who’ll be there, and before the mingling starts we each get one minute to stand by our table and give a summary of what […]

ItalianHandfull left a commentto my previous post saying how touched she was to get an “inside-out” look at a presentation for elementary school kids. That comment inspired me to share this additional point of view from the teacher who arranged our visit to Long Island in the first place. Erica Bohrer teaches at Daniel Street […]

The first question during the Q&A part of our presentation at Daniel Street School last Monday wasn’t a question at all. “I have an opinion,” the 8-year-old declared. What? He didn’t think it was fair to make sweet dogs like Whitney work? He thought all dogs should be allowed on planes, not just service dogs? […]