September, 2004

Dear Friends:

I hope that, wherever you are, you have enjoyed what we used to call the Dog Days of Summer. But already fall is in the air and school is back in session and lazy days of lying around with your tongue hanging out are over.

Not for my new character Fred. He is a basset hound with attitude, who would much rather munch on a couple of liver treats than bother with the local dog show. This book, DOG SHOW, (illustrations by New Yorker magazine artist Mark Ulriksen) will be coming out this month. The publisher, Henry Holt, has launched a DOG SHOW Look Alike contest which has some really great prizes including an original sketch from the book by the artist. It's open to booksellers, librarians and educators. You can find more information on my News and Events page(www.elizabethwinthrop.com/news.html) or you can check this website ((www.henryholtchildrensbooks.com/) for all the details.

I will be travelling these first weeks of September and again in October to sign copies of my books at various bookstores and festivals. Be sure to check my News and Events page for dates and times.

I know that many of you are teachers and librarians who work tirelessly with children trying to hook them on reading. Here's a lovely story about one teacher in New York City who had a fun experience with her fourth grade class after they'd read THE RED-HOT RATTOONS.

In the book, Fletcher, the art-loving rat, can't find one picture or statue of a rat in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is furious. After they read the book, a fourth grade class in New York decided to go looking for themselves and they found not one but two rats!

If any of you get to New York City, make sure you include a visit to the museum to find the two rats Fletcher missed. I'll give you some hints. One rat is the size of a thumbnail and lives on one of the weapons in the Arms and Armor section. The other is in a painting by an artist in the European Paintings Division whose last name begins with the letter B. If you or your young travellers find either rat, please post a notice on my guestbook to let the rest of us know. (But don't give away the locations!)

And once again, thanks to all of you for the work you do to keep our children reading. The news is out that Americans are reading fewer books every year.

I'm hoping that the work you do and the work I do will combine to fight that downward trend.

Best wishes,

Elizabeth Winthrop