I have stopped off in New York, en route home from Paris, in order to do some book-related stuff.  First, an event at Barnes & Noble to celebrate the publication of THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIS BURDICK

with the illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg, who was at the event along with Jon Scieska, Linda Sue Park and me, the three of us among the 14 writers who contributed stories to go with Chris's illustrations. Chris and I will do another such event in Cambridge, MA (Brattle Theater, 6 PM) this coming Friday night, along with Roger Sutton as moderator and Margaret Raymo, the editor of the book.

That event was yesterday. Today I was at Scholastic Books doing a live webcast...I'm told that perhaps 4,000 teachers had signed up, and of course each teacher had a classroom of kids..so it was a huge audience.  We were talking about the Dear America series, and with me were Lisa Sandell, the editor of the series; and Kirby Larson, who wrote this one:

set  in 1941; and also Andrea Davis Pinkney, author of

set in 1954; and then my book was/is

No significance to the different sizes of these pictures. I took them off the internet and this is how they arrived!

Just for the record, there is another one of the many many Dear America books which is special to me (though I didn't write it. My friend Kathryn Lasky did):

because the photo on the cover is of my mother at age 12.

Now I am all done with work-related things...for a week...and am headed off tonight to have dinner with an old friend and then to see WAR HORSE at Lincoln Center. Then tomorrow: home at last, with a suitcase full of dirty laundry.