A lot of you come to this blog because you love to read, so I thought you might be interested in this opportunity to donate new and gently-used books to the Joplin, Mo., schools. The original message came to me via a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators listserv along with a phone number […]

Poor Harper! He came home from the Seeing Eye to piles of snow here in Chicago and for weeks — even months — after the snow finally melted, it rained. Harper braved the thunder and learned to maneuver us around puddles, and when the sun finally made its debut last Monday I’m sure he thought […]

Back in 2009 I wrote a piece for the Chicago Tribune about how difficult it can be for people who are blind to keep track of U.S. currency. From the article: 180 countries use printed paper money, and the United States is the only one that prints bills all the same size and color, no […]

My friend Lindy Bergman was an art collector. Then macular degeneration set in. When the disease became so severe that Lindy could no longer see the surrealist works on her apartment walls, she donated the collection to the Art Institute of Chicago. From a New York Times review of the Art Institute’s new modern wing: […]

Harper and I are making progress! Yesterday morning he guided me downtown to teach my memoir class for senior citizens at the Chicago Cultural Center. We made it back and forth safely, and he didn’t cower once. “Attaboy, Harper!” Later that afternoon I had him guide me to Michigan Avenue to the pool where I […]