I’ve been visiting schools to talk about blindness and Seeing Eye dogs for years — ever since I got my first Seeing Eye dog, Dora, in 1991.
Now with my children’s book published, the visits are even more fun. Usually teachers have already read Safe & Sound out loud to their students before we arrive. That makes the questions the students ask all the more interesting. And detailed!
When it comes to the question and answer time, somehow every kids group I talk to gets caught up in a particular theme. When I talked to a group of Girl Scouts last year, one of them asked how I bake cookies. Every question after that was about the kitchen. How do you know where the stove is? How do you keep yourself from cutting your finger when you chop things? How do you know what you are eating?
Yesterday at Longfellow Elementary School in Oak Park, IL the kids were intrigued with the idea of intruders coming into our apartment. How would Hanni react? How would I react? One student remembered a passage in the book about me learning to use a white cane before I started using a Seeing eye dog.
“Do you still have your cane?” he asked.
I do. Guide dog users are encouraged to use our white canes from time to time. By keeping our cane skills up, we know that if – God forbid – our dogs get sick or can’t work for a while we can still get around on our own.
“What if you heard a man in the house in the middle of the night,” the boy’s questioning continued. “And you got out your cane, and you hit him, and then you found out it was your husband?!”
Must admit, I had to think about that for a minute before answering! In the end, I dodged the question altogether by telling a story of how I really did inadvertently hit Mike once.
My first dog Dora was pretty athletic. When we were at home, and her harness was off, she loved jumping in the air to play catch. “One time I was whipping a ball across the room for her to fetch, and I didn’t realize Mike was there,” I said. “I hit him right in the head!”
The kids laughed and laughed at that one. We were, ahem, a hit.

Today was the very first time I’ve given a children’s book presentation in a bookstore while enjoying a glass of wine.
The Book Cellar lives up to its name. Get it? Book CELLAR? They sell books, and they sell wine.
It’s my kind of store.
And the crowd was my kind of crowd: co-workers, students from the senior citizen writing class I teach, friends who have known me a long time and new friends who just learned about my children’s book. Best of all, my entire book club showed up.
When Mike, Hanni and I moved to Chicago in 2003, my college friend Nancy invited me to join her Sunday morning book group – they meet at different houses on the northside of Chicago. I was eager to meet new people and welcomed the invite. After a few meetings, I made a formal announcement. I told them all how much I appreciated them welcoming me to the group. “You are just my type,” I said. “You’re all such fun, you put out such lavish spreads of food, you meet on Sundays, and none of you go to church!”
The room got very quiet. You didn’t have to be able to see to know they were staring at me, open-jawed.
Suddenly they all exploded with laughter. “Beth!” one of my new friends finally explained. “Don’t you know? We’re all Jewish!”
I had no idea.
I’ve been attending Jewish Book Group ever since, and have learned as much from my fellow book club members as I have from the books we read.
An example: Today they reminded me that Hanukah starts Tuesday.
So when I signed – and rubber-stamped Hanni’s paw print — onto books for their nieces and nephews, I also wrote out a special wish from my dog: Happy Hanni-kah!”

Hanni and I are doing a book signing at Women and Children First Bookstore on Wednesday morning, December 5. The store is in a terrific north-side Chicago neighborhood called Andersonville.
Mike, Hanni and I live on the south side of Chicago. The last time I went to Women and Children First, I took a cab. The beautiful thing about cabs: if they pick you up (see my blog post about a cab driver who refused Hanni) they let you off right in front of where you need to go. The ugly thing about cabs: they can cost an arm and a leg. It cost me over $20 to get to Women and Children First, for example.
This time, I figure, I’ll take a bus.
Truth is, Hanni and I rarely take Chicago buses by ourselves. I’m not afraid of much, but the fears I have are strong. One of my fears: falling into the laps of strangers. If a bus takes off before I find a seat, we’re doomed,
I can’t see the handles to grab onto for balance.
Knowing this fear of mine, Mike agreed to help us on a dry run yesterday. It went swimmingly.
First off, the bus was empty. Nary a lap to fall into. Even better: the bus driver waited for us to find a seat before he took off. Heaven.
A recorded voice called out the streets as we passed. To those of you who wonder whether blind people have a heightened sense of hearing, I’ll admit that after one announcement I told Mike I had no idea Chicago had a street called Killer.
“It’s Schiller,” he said.
I laughed. The ride was fun, really. I mean, once you’re seated, what’s to worry about? Chicagoans climbed on and off, a lot were chatting to each other, most of them seemed happy.
And no one fell into my lap.
After 45 minutes – Chicago is a BIG city — the recorded voice called out “Foster!” I grabbed Hanni’s harness, pointed to the front door, and commanded “Forward!” She led me perfectly, stopping at the top of the step down so I wouldn’t fall.
Women and Children First is two blocks north of Foster, Mike said. I turned north, commanded “Forward! and Hanni and I were off. When we got close to the door to Women and Children First, Mike stepped ahead. “It’s right here!” he said. Hanni went to him, sticking her nose under the doorknob. “Good girl!” I exclaimed, repeating that over and over while leaning down to pet the bejeezus out of her. Her tail was wagging with such enthusiasm that it brushed my face. We went inside, warmed up for a bit, then headed out again to circle back to the bus stop.
The second time, we let Hanni lead completely. When we got close to Women and Children First I started calmly and quietly repeating the direction she should be looking. “Right,” I said, pointing ever so slightly in that direction. “Right. Right. Right.” Sure enough, she walked right to the correct doorknob. Again the effusive exclamations, again the tail wagging. “Good girl, Hanni!” I know we’ll find our way on December 5.
It was a great afternoon. To reward ourselves, we ducked into a tavern/restaurant called Hop Leaf. Everyone we know who has ever gone to Hop Leaf gushes about it; finally it was our turn to give it a try. It did not disappoint. Mike and I enjoyed Belgian beer as we shared steamed mussels –Hot Leaf’s specialty.
The bus ride home was a cinch. No strange laps were disturbed.
Hanni’s bedtime treat that night was bigger than usual. We made it, I told her. Safe & sound.

The Children’s Book Council named November 11 to 17 Children’s Book Week, and Hanni and I sure celebrated!
I already blogged about the radio show we were on Tuesday. What I didn’t tell you, though, was the reason Betsy and Sal decided to have us on Walking on Air in the first place: they knew it was children’s book Week!
Turns out we were on TV that day, too! WCIA Channel 3 in Champaign, IL did a special Children’s Book Week feature where they offered reading suggestions. Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound was right up there with some pretty well-known children’s books:
1) The Three Snow Bears, by Jan Brett (elementary picture book)
2) Knuffle Bunny Too, by Mo Willems (elementary picture book)
3) Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound, by Beth Finke (non-fiction picture book)
4) Houdini, the Handcuff King, by Jason Lutes & Nick Bertozzi (biography in comic form)
5) The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick (novel)
Okay, so that was Tuesday. On Wednesday Hanni and I were on the front page of my old hometown paper. If you look at the Elmhurst Press story online, you can link to a video of Hanni and me walking near the Elmhurst train station. As I said in a previous post, “Move Over, Brangelina!” I wonder if fans will start calling us Bethanni?!
Okay, back to earth. Thursday Hanni led me to the doctor’s office so I could get a flu shot. Somehow we managed to even make a doctor’s visit into a Children’s Book Week celebration. The doctor I go to also sees two patients who happen to work on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I left two copies of Safe & Sound with him – he promises to hand them over to the Oprah connections the next time they are in the office. I’ll let you know when Oprah calls.
Hanni and I ended our Children’s Book Week celebration today with a visit to St. Athanasius School in Evanston, IL. I spoke to first and second graders. Of course they are all geniuses – you have to be in order to spell the school’s name!
Tomorrow morning we head off to the Bookstall in Winnetka. My friend Kate has offered to drive Hanni and me there and help us with signing – and pawprinting – books. Good thing Thanksgiving week is coming up – Children’s Book Week has worn us out. We’ll need the break from all this celebrating!

Hanni and I were interviewed on a radio show called “Walking on Air” today. The show’s title turned out to be the theme for the rest of the afternoon.
I checked my email once Hanni and I got home from the radio interview. Dee ding! A message! I opened it. For a moment I thought I was misunderstanding the robotic voice on my talking computer. I hit the keys to listen again, and sure enough:
“The following book has been nominated in the Fiction Picture Books category:

Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound by Beth Finke and illustrated by Anthony Alex Letourneau

Congratulations on your nomination!”
Yes! It’s true! Safe & sound has been nominated for a CYBIL Woo hoo!
What’s a Cybil? You mean, you don’t know?
Okay, I’ll be honest, neither did I.
I know now, though! The Cybils are a series of book awards selected by a panel of children’s and young adult bloggers, “the only literary contest that combines both the spontaneity of the Web with the thoughtful debate of a book club.”
According to the email message, nominated books will go through two rounds of judging, and the winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day 2008. Stay tuned.
But speaking of being tuned in, our interview on Walking on Air was swell. If you have never heard “Walking on Air,” it’s Syndicated on WLBK, DeKalb, IL; KWPC, Muscatine, IA; WLRB, Macomb, IL; WBYS, Canton, IL; and on WRAM in Galesburg, IL.
If you don’t live near any of those cities you can hear “Walking on Air” streamed live, weekdays from noon to 1 pm (central time).
To hear Hanni and me from today’s show, though, you’ll need to link to the podcast.
The “Walking on Air” hosts are Betsy and Sal. They’re sisters, and the show’s title comes from their uncle. Every morning on his drive to work he passes pairs of women walking together. These women walk every day and never seem at a loss for topics. What, he wondered out loud to his nieces, do these women talk about day after day? Since Betsy and Sally walk together all the time, they know what gets discussed. They are tons of fun, and our half-hour together flew by. I’m still walking on air.