A Wonderful Evening

Last night was so much fun. I was on a panel discussing the children's books that influenced our lives. Editor Anita Silvey featured me (along with 109 other folks) in her book Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Children's book. So, there I was on a podium with award winning children's author Lois Lowry (The Giver), New York Times bestselling author Anita Diamant (The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown) and Carol Greenwald of WGBH who brought Arthur, Curious George and Martha Speaks to TV. Our assignment was to talk about how one book led to our career decisions. I talked about Wrinkle in Time and showed two photo case studies. The other writers featured their favorites--The Yearling, Mary Poppins and The Oxcart Man. Anita Silvey ended the evening by speaking about the power of children's books. Believe me. Every person in Silvey's book chose to follow their dream based on something they read. It's an amazing testament to the power of the written word.