Hello readers (and potential readers) of my books. I just discovered that GoodReads has this opportunity here to address you. So I will.

I have two new picture books coming out in April 2014. One of them is A Fish Named Glub, which is a truly intimate story being that for the most part it takes place in just one location – a diner on the poor side of town.

A Fish Named Glub is a story about questions. When I was a preschool teacher, it was made clear to me that children are willing and able to answer any question, even the BIG ones. How they answer those questions is another story. After all, their time in the world up until then has not been long, but also, their perspective of the world is different from adults (not from their peers, who have no problem understanding each other). It’s my wish that a parent sitting with their child and reading A Fish Named Glub, will take a moment to ask them the same questions that Glub asks himself. Who am I? Where do I come from? What do I need? Etc. The challenge is in resisting the very powerful urge to laugh at their answers which from our perspective are unbelievably cute and adorable. Kids do say “the darndest things” as the old TV show demonstrated, but I think children are also able to say very profound things, said in a language which we, as adults, recognize but have almost forgotten. In those answers are very real expressions of who they are and who they want to be.

There is a magical element to this story, too. Without giving it away, let me just finish this post by saying that I am grateful to all the artists and performers whose work and creations I have experienced over the years that were able to reflect my life back to me in some way and have helped me in trying to answer those BIG questions.

A Fish Named Glub is published by Kids Can Press and will come out on April 1st, 2014