I’ve started a new picture book which means while I’m trying to deal with paper work, e-mails, spring trip details, and promoting April 2010 Día celebrations across the country, I’m longing, yes longing, to be playing with my new project.

I recently began A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel and am learning all kinds of wonderful details and enjoying how smoothly they are presented. The book reminded me of the obvious fact that as readers, we agree on the meaning of a set of symbols. For anyone who knows bookjoy, we know, though forget, how amazing it is that the symbols/letters we look at magically can teach us, hurt us, sadden us, make us laugh. How blessed we are to be members of the global community of readers. Little wonder that we can feel a desire to share the gift of literacy, to share bookjoy.