I meant to write you a newsletter in February but too many projects called for my attention and winter seems finally to have slipped into spring. So here I am a little late and a little breathless to tell you what this writer has been working on.

When I wrote last, I had just finished my historical novel in letters about the Great Depression. It is part of a series published by Winslow Press (www.winslowpress.com) called DEAR MR. PRESIDENT and it tells the story of a 12 year old girl named Emma Bartoletti who lived in the town of North Adams, Massachusetts in the 1930's. My story in the series is called LETTERS TO FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT FROM A MILL TOWN GIRL and will come out in October, 2001.

I've also been talking to you about my new picture book DUMPY LA RUE, (Henry Holt, May 2000) the story of the irrepressible dancing pig who gets his whole barnyard hoofing. It feels as if I've been waiting forever for the world to meet my favorite pig, but Dumpy will make his debut any day now. Betsy Lewin who won the Caldecott Honor Award in January, has drawn a marvelous cast of lovable characters who are willing to follow Dumpy's dictum to close their eyes and listen inside for the music that sets their paws and hooves and wings to tapping.

When I write a picture book, I of course have visions in my head of what the characters look like. But when I see the illustrations, I am often taught more about these people or pigs or dragons by the illustrator's very specific vision of them. With a line here and a watercolor wash there, Betsy Lewin created such unforgettable animals that I found I wanted to tell more stories about Dumpy's barnyard ballet troupe. So since December I've been at work on an animal fantasy novel about the five gray rats who, it turns out, prefer tap and jazz to ballet. I thought I could tell their story in a picture book, but it turns out I was wrong. The writer is often the last to know these things. I think I'm halfway through this novel, but these five rats have a way of taking charge and running away with the story.

At the same time, I have been researching and writing the beginnings of a novel for adults. In general, I agree with this comment I read recently by Gail Godwin, the novelist. "I like to discuss my work in progress with people. I've never worried that my inspiration would evaporate from exposure; it's more likely to dry up under my withering self-scrutiny." However, this novel turns out to be far more layered and complicated than anything I've attempted before. So to tell you more about it now feels dangerous as I could easily talk it away instead of writing it.

Please come visit the News and Events page of my website (www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop) to see my touring schedule for DUMPY LA RUE. I hope the librarians among you will stop by to see me at the Holt and the Holiday House booths at the American Library Association convention in San Francisco June 14-18th. For booksellers, I'll also be at the Book Expo in Chicago June 2nd.

I wish you all a happy spring.

Elizabeth Winthrop