September was a busy, exhilarating month. So busy that it's taken almost until the middle of October to post about it!
The second week of September, I traveled with my two sons and my mom to New York City. I knew it was going to be quite an experience for my boys when they were impressed by the escalator at the airport. ("Can we do it again, Mom? And again?")
The second week of September, I traveled with my two sons and my mom to New York City. I knew it was going to be quite an experience for my boys when they were impressed by the escalator at the airport. ("Can we do it again, Mom? And again?")
The second day we were there, I had the intense pleasure of strolling to Starbucks, picking up the New York Times, and seeing my book on the front page of the Arts Section. Heady stuff, that!
As my boys had never been to NYC, we did all the normal touristy things: Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building. My oldest son was co-opted into a street performance in Time Square-- a guy literally flipped over him. Did I get a picture of it? No. No, I did not.
On Sunday, September 11th, fifteen years after planes crashed into the Twin Towers, we went to the 9/11 Memorial. I was crying, as were others, as we heard the chimes that marked the horrendous events of that day. It was a solemn, heart-breaking experience.
I visited many bookstores and libraries while in the city, including the wonderful Books of Wonder and The Strand. So cool to see my book on their shelves!
I had the pleasure of meeting not only my wonderful editor, Mary Kate Castellani, but the entire Bloomsbury team who worked so hard to make ALL WE HAVE LEFT look beautiful inside and out! It was so nice to finally put faces to names.
On Tuesday, I traveled by train to the beautiful town of Westport Connecticut, where I met the wonderful staff of the Westport Library, as well as four lovely authors: Nora Baskin (Nine, Ten: a 9/11 Story), Gae Polisner (The Memory of Things), Jewell Parker Rhodes (Towers Falling), and Lauren Tarshis (I Survived series). It was an inspiring, moving discussion about healing through words. If you missed it, here's a link to the Facebook video below.
Back at home, I received this beautiful drawing of the cover of ALL WE HAVE LEFT, as envisioned by one of the fourth-grade participants of a talk I did on 9/11.
Murdock is getting bigger! At six months old, we have conquered potty-training and are now moving into the running-away stage. It's like raising a kid in fast-forward!
I'll leave you with this. It's a place I bike to in the morning, and it makes me happy. :)
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