More Walks on The Pier, Please

November is always a mad dash to the end of the year. It usually includes travel, sometimes cross-country, to speak at conferences and conventions for teachers and librarians. This year was no different.

One of the conferences on my calendar was the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, held on the Jersey Shore. The weather was brisker than I'd imagined, though not enough to keep me from going on a walk along the pier. What I noticed gave me fodder for the poem I dashed off as soon as I got back to the hotel (see below). You never know where inspiration will come from.

Let's hear it for more walks on the pier!

An hour or so later, I shared the poem with the audience I was privileged to address.

From Jersey, I was ferried to New York City for NCTE and, I hoped, an evening of dinner and a Broadway show. Alas, a strike shattered that dream. Sigh...

Home again, I was excited to check my mail and find my author copies of Oh, Brother!, due out in January. Yay! There's lots of work to do between now and January, so I'd better hop to it.

One last thing: I'd like to wish you a Happy Hannukah, a Happy Kwanza, and most of all, a Merry Christmas. No happy holiday, no seasons greeting, but Merry Christmas. After all, it is the birth of Christ we're celebrating! May his love light up your life.