Hi, Kids:

I meant to write you earlier this year, but so many writing projects distracted me. Somebody asked me recently if I work on more than one book at a time. Oh yes, I replied. Sometimes there are so many voices in my head that even I get hopelessly confused. For example, right now, I am working on an easy to read picture book called SMACK DAB SLAM BANG. I am writing an animal fantasy novel about five gray rats who are featured in my newly published picture book DUMPY LA RUE (Henry Holt), illustrated by Betsy Lewin. I am researching and writing a novel for adults called THE CHILDREN OF SPIES. I have an idea for a book about a dog show. I'm in the middle of a rhyming book about rain. And five of my books are coming out with various publishers in the next two years. See what I mean? It's as if I've been asked to babysit a pack of children and I keep wondering if I've left one of them behind in the park.

I'm very excited about DUMPY LA RUE, (due out May 1st) the story of my favorite pig. He tells his parents he wants to dance and his mother says, "Pigs don't dance. They bellow, they swallow, they learn how to wallow." When he tells his sister about his dancing dreams, she says, "Fat chance. Boys don't dance. They fight, they march, they sport and they snort. Andthey're never ever supposed to cavort." But it turns out Dumpy La Rue is a pig who knew what he wanted to do. I think I wrote this book to answer the teachers and relatives and other adults in my life who told me I would never get to be a writer when I grew up. I hope that you, like Dumpy, will close your eyes and listen inside when you're ready to hear the tune that gets your toes to tapping or the voice that gets your fingers to writing or you want to see the vision that gets your paintbrush painting. Artists of all kinds have to learn to turn off what the world says and listen to their own wisdom if they're ever going to make art.

If you're on spring vacation in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you have a wonderful break and enjoy the longer, warmer days. Thanks to all of you who have put pictures and book reviews up at the Castle Club on my website or left me messages on the guestbook. Although I can't answer each and every one, please know that I love reading them and "meeting" you readers through your messages. Come back for a visit soon and let me know what you're thinking.

Elizabeth Winthrop