Book news!

Great news! The 826CHI book -- A Sunday Afternoon Hotdog Meal: A Guide to Chicago -- is here! We had the book's release party today at the Printer's Row Book Festival in downtown Chicago, with readings by a couple dozen of the 205 kids who contributed to it. I've spent the past semester, along with many other 826-ers, helping students brainstorm, write, and edit stories for this book and I can't tell you how proud I am of their work. I wish I could quote dozens and dozens of stories here, and I wish everyone could have seen the packed auditorium of proud kids, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends from all over the city who came to hear the young authors read about "shrimp from the future, a park shaped like a spot of paint, six-foot tall smelly, sweaty men, a pizza crust that's humungous, kind and friendly neighbors, and cabs that smell like fresh flowers". (Yep, that's the subtitle of the book!)

Can you imagine how cool it must be to be 7 or 9 or 12 years old and already be a published author? (The kids got to wear laminates at the party with the cover of the book on them and AUTHOR in big letters. They were beaming.) I hope this experience makes them feel like they can do anything they set their minds to. One mom actually came up to us at the book sales table and said "You took my son, a reluctant writer, and made him love writing." I can't imagine a better response.

Because I can't resist, here are just a few bits of glorious Chicago advice from the students, grades 2-6:

About the city . . .
"One of my special memories of the Lincoln Park Zoo is Monkey Day. It's when the zoo puts every single monkey in one place!" - Justice
"In Chicago you will find a lot of entertainment and people telling jokes. Trust me, you will laugh so hard you will start crying." - Stefany
"The Cubs' whole team's players are boy players. No women -- boooo!" - Nia

About transit . . .
"You must not play with the vine that stops the bus." - Eduardo
"I love a train and want to marry it because it is cute and pretty." - Brandon
"If you do not have money you should have walked." - Jocelyn

About dining out . . .
"Nicky's has good food and you will know Nicky's because it looks like the old days." - Kevin
"When you come to Chicago, if you are starving don't panic." - Karen

About dining in . . .
"My grandma makes the best pound cake in the city. Her pound cake is brown and the size of a laptop." - Dale
"My dad's lemon cheesecake tastes like you're in a bubble of miracle." - Nadeja

And those are truly just the tip of the iceberg. This book is so wonderful, when I opened it and saw my name inside I must have looked like the biggest grinning idiot. "Trust me," I was in a "bubble of miracle."

LOVE & IMAGINATION,
Erin