Beatrix and her book Good Morning to Me! got a starred review from Publishers Weekly! The link is here. We're all eager for the book to be out on May 5th!
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RED SLED has just been included on the Common Sense Media list of essential books for kids and teens!
It joins some pretty good company in the age 2-6 category!
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Sometimes the year end "best of" lists are quite enjoyable! Smithsonian Air and Space, one of my favorite magazines, picked FLIGHT SCHOOL as one of the best aviation and space themed books for children!
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We've seen a few really nice reviews of Flight School in the past few days. One was a *STARRED REVIEW* from the June 2014 issue of The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books! Here's a little snippet from that:
"The watercolor and pencil illustrations are warm, robust, and thoughtfully composed... Penguin is a charmingly tubby and stout guy, and the skillful positioning of his red flight goggles visually convey his emotions: when he’s happy, the earpieces flip up jauntily, and when he’s sad, they dejectedly droop. This could be a useful tool for many kinds of discussions—from the adaptations that some kids need in a classroom, to creative problem solving, to perseverance—or a cheerful addition to a unit or story hour about birds or penguins."
Another nice review was from the Librarian's quest blog.
Here's a quote from Librarian's Quest:
"If you are looking for a title about dreaming the impossible dream look no further than Flight School...It presents readers with a cast of lovable characters who look on the bright side of life. Sometimes we truly need the help of our friends to keep our heart full..."
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We just posted a new Strange Creatures discussion guide on Lita’s web site.
It contains projects and activities for Vocabulary, Music, Art and Science, and includes an author interview. The guide was created by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, a reading specialist and children’s author (visit her Web site here).
We’re back again after taking a brief blog break since the end of last year. We just received our first box of STRANGE CREATURES from the publisher and were psyched to see a nice review of STRANGE CREATURES in the Wall Street Journal this weekend. [WSJ Review]
And last week we heard that STRANGE CREATURES was picked as a featured elementary biography selection of the Junior Library Guild!
Here are a few things we picked out of the reviews so far:
“There’s much in Walter Rothschild’s story for a tyke to like, particularly the timid boy’s end run around his father’s ambitions, and Judge makes the most of the battle of wills in her humor-tinged watercolors. Wild animals pop up all over the swanky estate while portraits of ancestors glare down from their frames in disapproval of the family ado. A final note comments on Rothschild’s contribution to the burgeoning field of zoology and on the way collection practices and wildlife study have changed over the past century and a half. Primary-grade children who are encouraged (assigned?) to read a biography will find Rothschild to be one of the most engaging guys they’ve never heard of.” BCCB
“In richly colored paintings Ms. Judge shows readers … nautiluses and octopuses, lizards and kiwis, okapis from the Congo, capybaras from Colombia, and marabou storks.” WSJ
“Energetic, expressive paintings, many with unusual perspectives, fill the pages. Not surprisingly, the odd creatures that fascinated Walter are among the most engaging characters, like the giant lizard that peers out from Walter’s mother’s lily bed. Human characters are more sketchily drawn, which emphasizes Walter’s preoccupation with the natural world…“ Kirkus Reviews
“Judge’s picture-book biography of the shy genius may encourage readers to follow their own creative ideas…” School Library Journal
(Written by Dave) I’ve been a judge with the annual Cybils awards, which honor various categories of children’s books, since 2008. And I’m doing it again this year! The Cybils themselves started in 2006. Lita’s One Thousand Tracings was a finalist in non-fiction picture books in 2007.
Anybody can nominate a book (starting on October 1st), and all the books that are eligible, and deemed to be in the proper category, go to the first round judges. (Actually quite a few publishers fail to send us books so I usually get them through library loan.) Last year I was a 2nd round judge for Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction — we got to pick the one winning book from the group of finalists picked by the round 1 judges. Two years ago, I was a panelist (round 1 judge) for non-fiction picture books, and this year I’m a round 1 judge for the Middle Grade/YA Non-fiction category. I’m thinking a lot of books will be nominated this year — seems like the numbers go up every year — so I’ll be doing a lot of reading. Last year there were some great books in this category — but amazingly, the Sibert Award winner was not even a finalist. Of course the Cybils finalists are picked before the Sibert is announced, and the criteria are different (here is the Sibert criteria).
Anyway, I grabbed this list of all the round 1 and 2 judges for Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction from our panel organizer, Susan Thomsen at Chicken Spaghetti. It includes panelists’ Twitter feeds, marked with an @ — follow them and keep up with book news and conversation.
Panelists (Round I Judges):
Karen Ball, Mrs. B’s Favorites
Sarah Mulhern Gross, The Reading Zone @thereadingzone
David Judge, Adventures at Wilder Farm
Jessica Leader, Jessica Leader @JessicaLeader
Susan Thomsen, Chicken Spaghetti @C_Spaghetti
Judges (Round II):
Edi Campbell, Crazy Quilts @crazyquilts
René Colato Laínez, René Colato Laínez, La Bloga @renecolato
David Gutowski, Largehearted Boy @largeheartedboy
Colleen Mondor, Chasing Ray
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(Written by Dave)
Not being a native New Englander, I’ve never before been to a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. But I finally got there this week and watched the Red Sox get clobbered 14-5. Lita had suggested I staple some red sox to my shirt to show my team support, but I never quite got around to that plan. It was a beautiful, warm, fall night and the fans seemed to get more into the game as the other team (Tampa Bay Rays) scored more and more runs — even the Kazoo Man (who had stapled sox to his hat and/or ears) came out late in the evening. Unfortunately a lot of people had already left by that time and didn’t get the opportunity to hear his rallying calls…
But it was such fun to see Fenway Park after Lita had done so much visual research into how it looked in 1914 during the Pennies for Elephants story. Here’s how things look now from the bleachers just past the right fielder:
And here are a few pictures (from the Library of Congress and Boston Public Library photograph collection) during the 1912-1914 time period:
In Pennies for Elephants, the kids of New England raised the money to buy three retiring circus elephants for the Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. To introduce the elephants to the city, there was a huge event at Fenway Park. Here’s the newspaper headline, and a cartoon of the elephants from the Boston Post, and a newspaper image of Elephant Day at Fenway:
One of Lita’s images of the elephants at Fenway Park has been used for the 1 Comments on Fenway Park, last added: 9/10/2010
I just returned from a fantastic Moran-related trip to Yellowstone! I instructed a painting workshop (called Painting Moran’s Yellowstone) through the Yellowstone Association Institute — it was an amazingly fun experience! The Yellowstone Association puts on some incredible classes, teaching about the wildlife, botany, and the land. I was honored to be a part of it this year.
We stayed at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch which is the place where they regenerated the existing Buffalo herd from just a few survivors back in the 1920s. It’s a rustic place with a couple of classrooms and a kitchen in the main Bunkhouse, and small cabins for the students, instructors, and volunteers. Each night the Buffalo herd migrated from lower in the valley, through the camp, to higher ground. In the morning, we painted as the sun rose and sand hill cranes called from nearby. Coyotes howled and yipped at night and we saw nine bears!
We felt so lucky to stay in this enchanted place within Yellowstone, and so immersed in the land and surrounding wildlife. Dave and I have already decided to return next year, to teach and spend more time in a place that we love.
(Written by Dave) We just received a shipment of F&Gs for Lita’s next book—Strange Creatures: The Story of Walter Rothschild and his Museum. This book is with Disney-Hyperion Books and is scheduled for release on Feb 1st, 2011.
Here’s a short description of Walter’s story:
Walter was born in 1868 and was the son of Lady Emma and Lord Nathan Rothschild. The Rothschilds were a family of bankers and Walter was expected to someday take over the bank. But Walter wasn’t interested in the bank. Instead, he loved every creature that crawled, slithered or flew. He began collecting bugs and butterflies at the age of seven. The family also knew explorers who traveled the world to bring back animals for the London Zoo, and soon Walter started collecting more exotic creatures like kangaroos and kiwis. From there his collection grew and grew, until it threatened to take over the Rothschild estate. Lord Rothschild eventually lost patience with Walter’s hobby and insisted that Walter become a banker, like everyone else in the family. Reluctantly, Walter obeyed, but his dream couldn’t be dimmed.
Eventually Walter created the largest zoological collection gathered by one man and was respected throughout the world for his contribution to science. He wrote 1200 books and scientific papers and named 5000 new species. Animals that now bear the name Rothschild include butterflies, fish, a millipede, a fly, a lizard, a porcupine, a wallaby, a bird of paradise, and even a giraffe. The painfully shy boy who never made a good banker forever changed our understanding of the world’s diversity of creatures.
Lita actually has a strange connection to Walter. Lita’s grandparents, Fran and Frederick Hamerstrom, were ornithologists who cared for birds of prey. One of their scientific mentors was Ernst Mayr, who began his career on an expedition collecting for Walter Rothschild. Later he became curator of Rothschild’s collection of birds, now housed in New York’s American Museum of Natural History.
The picture above is Ernst Mayr with Sario, one of his Malay assistants, in the former Dutch New Guinea in June 1928. The picture below is Lita at Walter Rothschild’s Tring Museum in June 2009.
We’re so excited that the release date for Born to be Giants has arrived, so we’re rolling out our new Born to be Giants mini-website!
Lita has produced an expanded group of dinosaur coloring pages (download them from here) , based on the images in Born to be Giants and her earlier D is for Dinosaur.
And we have some pages that show the sketch to painting process for this book, and some pictures from Lita’s first dinosaur dig with the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology.
Here are some snippets from the reviews for Born to be Giants:
“Eye-catching illustrations and the combination of two perennially popular topics make this book a sure hit.”
-Kirkus, March 15, 2010
“..insightful book filled with fascinating details…expressive paintings make artful use of dimension and scale while bringing the compelling creatures to life.”
-Pulishers Weekly, March 29, 2010
“The text is a model of logical reasoning…The detailed, richly colored illustrations, which often place readers at baby-dinosaur eye level, take the same care in balancing accuracy and imagination.”
-Horn Book Magazine, May/June, 2010
“..a full measure of visual appeal.” -Booklist, March 1, 2010
“A surefire hit for dinophiles.” -School Library Journal, May, 2010
“No one has presented some of these findings to children yet. Nor have dinosaurs been presented in quite this way before. Judge’s approach is one that celebrates the scientific method, first offering facts scientists have ga
Pennies for Elephants is a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award!
You can download the full list of finalists — books in Children’s/Young Adult Lit here.
We have a spindly tree on the way to our front door that seems to mysteriously get decorated when we leave the house, most recently with a Bird Talk theme!
This isn’t the first time. Even before the tree was in the ground we came home one afternoon to find some strange objects on it.
Hmmmm. It all looks strangely similar to our friend Kim Cunningham’s found object art.
(Written by Dave) We just got back from a few cold days in New York City and had a great time there. We made a quick stop at the Children’s Center at the New York Public Library and I got a picture of Lita out front with one of the Library Lions.
After the library and a quick hello to Betsy Bird, we had lunch with Lita’s wonderful agent at Metrazur on the balcony above Grand Central Station. It was really fun! Then we visited lots of great book stores, like Books of Wonder, Barnes and Noble at Union Square and The Strand. We wanted to get up to the Bank Street Books (Children’s Bookstore) but never quite made it up that way.
I just saw an article in the NY Times which said the number of visitors in the city was down a few percent in 2009, but we saw unbelievably huge crowds at the Natural History Museum and at the Met. At the MOMA people were lined up outside the building all the way to 6th Ave. We never did get in there — didn’t even try. At Rockefeller Center, in the early evening, there was a human traffic jam like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I can’t imagine fitting more people into the space.
The window decorations at Bergdorf Goodman were pretty good this year:
Good trip overall, but now we’re glad to be back in New Hampshire!
Just a few days ago the Smithsonian Magazine put out an annual list called the Smithsonian Notable Books for Children 2009. Here’s how they described their list last year: “… at Smithsonian Magazine, we’re reviving a tradition: our annual selection of outstanding books for children, a compendium of surprising, inspiring titles—everything from picture books and novels to memoirs—for youngsters and the grownups who read to, and with, them.”
For the 2009 list, they said, “This year’s titles range across cultures, into the past and toward the future. Their creators have relied on humor to touch our hearts; documentary accounts to bring history alive; biography to convey the true meaning of courage; poetic language to demonstrate the power of the written word—and the artist’s brush or camera to create ravishing illustrations.”
We were excited to see Yellowstone Moran included on the 2009 list!
And here’s what they said about Yellowstone Moran: “In 1871, a young artist joined an expedition of scientists setting out to explore the West. The monumental canvasses based on his travels would become iconic images that are now part of our nation’s heritage.”
Written by Dave.
We just heard some good news for Pennies for Elephants! It’s one of the winners of the 2009 New Hampshire Literary Awards. Here is the complete list of the award winners:
Written by Dave.
Back in the 1960s and 70s Lita’s grandmother, Fran Hamerstrom, led a long term project on the captive breeding of golden eagles. The work produced the birth of Ithaca, the world’s first living eagle resulting from artificial insemination. Sadly, we just heard that Ithaca died several days ago at the age of 37. Here are a few pictures and a note from Jim Grier, the biologist who successfully hatched and raised Ithaca. Ithaca’s parents were Fran’s eagles, Chrys and Grendel.
Fran holding Ithaca, Jim Grier holding Ithaca’s parents — Chrys is on his right hand, Grendel is on the left hand (photo from Jim Grier).
Jim Grier flying Ithaca (photo from Jim Grier).
Fran with Chrys. The chick here is a surrogate redtail hawk (Hamerstrom photo).
Fran feeding a Golden Eagle (Hamerstrom photo).
ITHACA the Golden Eagle (1972-2009) (by Jim Grier)
Ithaca was hatched 13 May 1972 at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He was named after the town of Ithaca, a Greek name which, according to a local librarian who I consulted at the time, means “a rugged place suitable only for pasturing goats.” He had to be euthanized 29 September 2009 because of complications resulting from West Nile Virus.
It is sad that he encountered and suffered from the virus, that we lost him, and that he died so young (only 37 years old — he otherwise probably would have lived many more years and I expected that he would outlive me). As a biologist, however, I’m familiar with life (and death) and understand that it’s all in the nature of biology.
Ithaca resulted from an extracurricular project I conducted on captive breeding of eagles. (My primary, dissertation research at Cornell was on avian thermal regulation and physiology.) He was the second of three chicks that hatched in the project. The other two died prematurely. Ithaca [also almost died at the same time], but I discovered the problem in time while he was still alive and managed to rehabilitate him as a young chick. Cornell University produced a news release (click here) and the story was widely reported in the news at the time. National Wildlife magazine published an article on the work in the 1972 Oct-Nov issue, pages 44-45. The story was included in the latest editions of a book by Fran Hamerstrom, “An Eagle to the Sky” (Iowa State Univ Press, out of print). (Fran owned the two adult golden eagles that were Ithaca’s parents, see photo.)
Here is part of Lita’s reply to Jim: “It feels a little strange, kind of like loosing a relative you haven’t seen for a long time, but who at one time was a big presence of your life. Ithaca was born not long after me, and growing up, I knew his birth was far more important to my grandmother than her first grandchild was — something I always accepted since Fran and you had worked so hard. I really appreciate you letting me know.”
Written by Dave
Tomorrow, nominations for the 2009 Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards open up and will remain open until October 15th.
Be sure to stop by the Cybils site and nominate your favorite books published between last year’s contest and this year’s in the following genres:
Last year I was on the Nonfiction picture book panel, and this year I’m a round 2 judge in the Middle Grade/Young Adult Nonfiction category.
Here are the panelists and judges in that category:
Panel Organizer: Susan Thomsen, Chicken Spaghetti
Panelists (Round I Judges):
Alicia Blowers, The LibrariYAn
Sarah Rettger, Archimedes Forgets
Jennie Rothschild, Biblio File
Jill Tullo, The Well-Read Child
Erin Walker, Erin Explores YA
Round II Judges:
Wendy Burton, Six Boxes of Books
Jennifer Donovan, 5 Minutes for Books
Dave Judge, Adventures at Wilder Farm
Colleen Mondor, Chasing Ray
Lisa L. Owens, L.L. Owens-Children’s Writing Blog
We just heard that Lita’s next release, Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World, is a 2010 Junior Library Guild selection! The book is on the Roaring Brook/Flash Point spring 2010 list.
Yellowstone Moran is the current (October) Junior Library Guild selection in the Elementary Biography category.
One Thousand Tracings has been selected by Jessica Doyle, the first lady of Wisconsin, (and an advisory committee) as a December 2009 primary pick for Read On Wisconsin! The other picks for December include: Preschool: Old Bear by Kevin Henkes, Intermediate: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, Middle School: How To Steal a Dog By Barbara O’Connor, High School: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
And the board of the Keene Children’s Literature Festival has picked an image from Pennies for Elephants to be on the 2010 Festival Poster!
Lita is speaking at the 2009 festival (October 31st) along with Beth Krommes, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson and Jane Yolen.
The long awaited release date of Yellowstone Moran is almost here! So just in time for the book’s release (this Thursday, September 3rd) we just put the finishing touches on our mini website for Yellowstone Moran.
We’re especially excited to feature (Lita’s parents) Dale and Elva Paulson’s beautiful wildlife photography. They’re frequent visitors to Yellowstone and over the years they’ve taken some fantastic photographs. The pictures are special because of the animal behavior they capture — a bear stretching after a long winter hibernation, or cubs playing in a tree. These photographs include pictures of wolves, bison, elk, fox, bears, raven, cranes, and more.
We also have pictures of some of the items that were on the 1871 Hayden expedition. These are on display at the Albright Visitor Center at Mammoth Hot Springs which we visited last summer.
And we’ve also got some great photographs that Lita took of the geysers and hot springs at Yellowstone.
There’s a timeline that has details of the three important expeditions into the Yellowstone Region between 1869 and 1871. And for students who want to get started with a nature journal, Lita put together a fantastic guide that can be downloaded from the activities section of the website.
If you get a chance, please take a look.
Last week we traveled down to the Boston area so Lita could tape an interview on The Secret Life of Animals with Vicki Croke. The show will be airing on Sunday August 2nd on NECN (New England Cable News) at 11:30am and 6:30pm. Vicki has a couple of Irish Wolfhounds that roam the set, and last week a 3rd Wolfhound joined, along with a Dachshund and one other dog. What fun!
They talked about Pennies for Elephants and introduced Yellowstone Moran. It was chaos when the taping was over — they cut it close — 2 minutes before the live news at noon was to start, in the same studio we were in! The news anchor lady and a bunch of the crew came storming in and we all grabbed dogs and dog treats and kids and food bowls and whatever we could carry and quickly got out of the studio as the anchor lady sat down in her pink pants suit. And the crew were screaming about chroma screens, and the TV cameras on robotic stands were whizzing around with minds of their own. When we got out in the hallway there was a big TV set up and suddenly the anchor lady was on and she was cool as could be. And we thought we could see some dog hair floating in the background, behind her.
Vicki is the author of several books including The Lady and the Panda (I think this is an older cover):
Also (in other news), there was a nice feature about Lita, Pennies for Elephants and Yellowstone Moran on the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog this Sunday. And last week we saw a wonderful Pennies for Elephants review from Pam Coughlan (aka Mother Reader) on PBS Booklights.
Lita is off to Chicago tomorrow for an event filled Sunday at the ALA annual summer conference. First, she’s thrilled that Disney-Hyperion invited her, Kadir Nelson and E. Lockhart to the Caldecott/Newbery Banquet on Sunday night! It’ll be Lita’s first time at ALA and first time at the banquet. Very exciting!
But before that, she’s got a full Sunday of events. Here’s her schedule — in the morning she’s participating in the following program with authors Anne Sibley O’Brien, and Phillip Hoose, librarian, Kelley McDaniel and children’s book advocate, Kirsten Cappy (click on the picture for a pdf of the handout):
Inspiring Young Citizens:
The Library as a Forum for Engagement
Sunday, 7/12/09
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
ALA Annual Conference
McCormick Place West, W-190B
Chicago, IL
How do we excite young readers with possibilities for remaking their world without burdening them with responsibility beyond their years? Authors Lita Judge, Anne Sibley O’Brien, and Phillip Hoose, librarian, Kelley McDaniel and children’s book advocate, Kirsten Cappy will share books, strategies, and book-specific educational curriculum for engaging young people in age-appropriate social issues and actions. Applications will focus on historical figures and movements that inspire contemporary youth.
Then Book signings in the afternoon:
Lita Judge Signing,
Pennies for Elephants and One Thousand Tracings
Sunday, 7/12 from 2:30 - 3:30 PM
Disney-Hyperion, Booth #2247
Yellowstone Moran: Painting the American West
Sunday, 7/12 from 1:30 – 2:00 PM
Penguin, Booth #2120/2122
So if you’re at ALA I hope you get a chance to connect!
We’re lucky, here in Peterborough, to have the thriving Macdowell Colony. Writers, artists, composers, photographers, filmmakers and sculptors come to Peterborough to live in one of the 32 studios at the retreat. Once accepted, an artist can stay for as little as a couple of weeks, or as long as a couple of months. When they arrive, they find a kind of isolation — there’s no phone, no internet, no fax, and no family. It’s just a cabin in the woods.
(Alexander Studio at Macdowell Colony. Photo credit: Victoria Sambunaris)
And there’s a famous tradition: every day your picnic basket lunch is silently delivered to the doorstep of your cabin.
( Photo credit: Victoria Sambunaris)
In the history of the colony there have been over 6000 supported artists in residence, and in 2007, the colony celebrated its centennial with a yearlong celebration.
About once a month the Macdowell Colony sponsors a current resident at a downtown event. And this month it was Brian Selznick! Brian gave a very visual and entertaining talk and covered some of our favorite books, including The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Walt Whitman and, of course, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
It was great to see a huge turnout and variety of age groups — very young, medium young, young and old. As a finale he showed the movie A Trip to the Moon, by Georges Méliès, and he provided the words while a cellist from the colony (I missed her name) performed accompanying music. It was quite funny, and fantastic!
He also talked about what he’s working on while he’s at the Colony (I’ll repeat here what was in the announcement for the talk):
Familiar now with the rewards of risk-taking on the heels of Hugo’s success, Selznick remains interested in seeing what else he can do with books. “I like taking what I’ve learned and doing something new with it.” His current novel-in-progress, Wonderstruck, is a fitting example: Though it will feature visuals in a prominent and inventive way (much like Hugo), it will also weave together two separate stories that take place in two different time frames. “One story, which takes place in the 1920s, will be told entirely in pictures,” reveals Selznick, who is hesitant to give away too much about the book’s plot. “The other, from the 1970s, will be told with words.” Wonderstruck is scheduled to be released in 2011.
Lita and I just returned from England and jumped back into the world with last week’s release of Pennies for Elephants!
We’ve seen a few nice reviews so far in the local paper, at The Miss Rumphius Effect, and in the Concord Monitor.
But let’s go back to England for a moment. We pulled the plan together quickly after Lita got the green light on a new book. The book is about Walter Rothschild, a member of the famous banking family, who as a 7 year old announced to his parents that he was going to build a museum. He was born a few years after Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and, like Darwin, he collected bugs, butterflies, birds, fish, reptiles, plants, live animals and animal specimens. He eventually did work for the family bank, but he also followed his dream of opening his museum, and with the help of two curators and many explorers, Walter created the largest natural history collection ever gathered by one person. It became one of the most important collections for proving many of Darwin’s theories, and is still used extensively today for DNA studies.
The trip was part research, part vacation. We started our England trip at Kew Gardens to get some visual reference of strange plants and Victorian greenhouses.
Then we spent a few days at the Walter Rothschild’s Tring Museum, which is now part of the British Natural History Museum.
And finally we spent seven beautiful days up in the Lake district where we hiked about 7-10 miles every day, enjoyed afternoon teas, and visited Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm, and the Beatrix Potter gallery in Hawkshead. The picture below is from a glorious hike above the Borrowdale Valley. I’m not sure there’s ever been such perfect weather in northwest England!
Lita has a busy summer schedule. In July we’re hoping to get down to Manhattan, then she’ll be at ALA in Chicago, then an SCBWI conference near Baltimore. And we’ve got a bunch of other events in the works for the summer! We’re ready for another vacation…
Wooow, Lita, congrats!!! I really, really look forward to your book!
Best wishes, Sadami