Sitting Down to Eat

I have often fantasized about being a chef.

I think it would be fun to wear a white apron and a chef's hat and cook up a delicious meal!

When I was a boy, we lived in Germany with my mother's parents and on some Sundays we would go to visit my father's parents. They lived about a mile away at the most and I remember they were very nice grandparents. My grandmother was a very good cook. There were always things cooking on the stove to test. In the back of the house was a big yard with a garden, apple trees, chickens, rabbits.

My grandmother always had a gift for me. An egg from her chickens, a jar of raspberry jam. She would tell me, "Here, Eric. Have an egg. Give it to your mother to make a pancake for you."

She was very warm and she cooked a lot. I would go there and she would say: "Sit down. Eat."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Colors and Words

“We are alike in the same ways,” a child once wrote to me. “I like colors and you like colors, I like words and you like words.”

Breaking the Record

Dear Friends,

I am very happy to share that the Read for the Record campaign on October 8, 2009 was a huge success and more than 2 million children participated - more than twice what Jumpstart had hoped! While most of the events were held in the United States with events in Iowa, California, Alabama and Virginia among other states, we did hear from our publisher in Taiwan that more than 4000 children participated in libraries and children's centers in 18 different cities or counties there.
I am proud to have been a part of this program.
Congratulations Jumpstart for breaking the record and to everyone who participated!