I shouldn't be here writing. I only have a half an hour and just enough time to eat, do a load of dishes, and maybe catch up with doing layouts for my author photos before I have to leave. I have 84 biographies and photos to get set up for the kids' books within the next week. After that, I need to cover the covers with fabric. Then, I have to organize the pages and bind them. I have until June 15th to get all of that done for all 84 books. I don't guarantee I'll have any volunteers to help with my job and if I do get them, will they do work that's nice enough to hold together for fifty years the way I want these books to do? Does that sound interesting to you?
See, I love this part. I'm calling kids, two at a time, out of class to go outside or the library for a photo. It's like an extra recess. Some of these kids won't stand still for a picture. I like to zoom in close. Some don't even know they're writing a book. I ask them if they want a serious picture for their book or a laughing one. Some kids spend the whole time climbing a tree for their picture. In the end, the pictures make me laugh and cry. One kid has the goofiest look on his face. I love that kid. Another kid, when I come in close for his shot, already looks like the sports writer he says he wants to be. I love that kid too.
And there's a girl who already looks like that smart young author who wrote a best selling novel. Her first name is Stella. It's a good name for an author. I can just see me, an old woman, lining up in the queue to get her to sign my book. I can imagine myself asking her if she remembers me and of course, she won't. I won't be disappointed. I'll remember that photo, the smart girl standing in the tree, so tall and somehow still serious, looking into the future, seeing herself on the back page of that book with the blurb that says her next book will be about a girl who sees something she shouldn't. I can see her then and know that in some small way, I planted the seed of who she could become. That's why I like building 84 books out of paper, cardboard, glue, fabric, and string.
Thank you for listening, jb
See, I love this part. I'm calling kids, two at a time, out of class to go outside or the library for a photo. It's like an extra recess. Some of these kids won't stand still for a picture. I like to zoom in close. Some don't even know they're writing a book. I ask them if they want a serious picture for their book or a laughing one. Some kids spend the whole time climbing a tree for their picture. In the end, the pictures make me laugh and cry. One kid has the goofiest look on his face. I love that kid. Another kid, when I come in close for his shot, already looks like the sports writer he says he wants to be. I love that kid too.
And there's a girl who already looks like that smart young author who wrote a best selling novel. Her first name is Stella. It's a good name for an author. I can just see me, an old woman, lining up in the queue to get her to sign my book. I can imagine myself asking her if she remembers me and of course, she won't. I won't be disappointed. I'll remember that photo, the smart girl standing in the tree, so tall and somehow still serious, looking into the future, seeing herself on the back page of that book with the blurb that says her next book will be about a girl who sees something she shouldn't. I can see her then and know that in some small way, I planted the seed of who she could become. That's why I like building 84 books out of paper, cardboard, glue, fabric, and string.
Thank you for listening, jb
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