my bad

One of the unforeseen joys of writing novels is the fan mail. During my career as a picturebook author/illustrator, I have gotten an occasional flattering e-mail or letter, usually from parents. But, with Year of the Dog I've been hearing directly from the reader.

But I'm a horrible author! I have yet to respond to any of them. I keep meaning to, but somehow the pile remains on the desk. It was only when my editor asked me if I had any fan mail that she could use to pitch Year of the Rat (cross your fingers!) to pub committee, that I rifled though them. Oh the guilt! I'm sorry! I will reply, I will!

In the meantime here are some priceless excerpts (these are probably funnier if you've read the book):

"We really liked your book. There were so many magical moments. We like how you and Melody were best friends. You were always working together and were BFFs(Best Friends Forever)."

"...It was exciting to hear about Albert's red egg party. I bet Albert was very wealthy. I can't believe Albert got so many red eggs. Dinner sounded delicious. How much money was in the envelopes?"

"We really loved your book, The Year of the Dog. Please read our letter to find out why....Next, we liked the way you described the food. We don't usually like the food you talked about, but the flavors sounded so interesting. We could almost taste the details. Ha, ha, ha! Are you every going to write a book called The Year of the Pig?"

"...Pacy and I are the same and different. We were both born in America and our parent are from China. We each have smaller sibling. We both do not have many close friends. We are different because Pacy speaks English at home and I speak Chinese at home. I have a smaller brother and Pacy has a smaller sister. Albert was named after food. Are Ki-Ki, Pacy and Beatrice named after food? I am not named after food."