A couple months ago, I got a call that Half A Chance was being given a Lupine Honor from the Maine Library Association. The Lupine Awards and Honors are given to children's books by a Maine author or illustrator or books that have a Maine setting. It's always very special for me to have a book honored in Maine. This is home and it feels like my family saying, "Good job." Also I know my competition and it's amazing: there is an incredible depth of talent in this state.

Those awards are a surprise for the librarians who go to the Maine Reading Round Up conference--so I had to keep it a secret and wonder who else was getting the other three Lupine plates and the Katahdin Award, the lifetime achievement award.

I was allowed to bring a guest, and books are always a team effort. So I asked my editor, Kate Egan, if she'd like to come. It was very special to share the day and this experience with her.

And I was so happy to see the other honorees (left to right):

Chris Van Dusen (Katahdin)
Melissa Sweet (Lupine for The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus)
me (Lupine Honor for Half a Chance),
Alicia Potter and Matt Tavares (Lupine Honor for Jubilee! One Man's Big, Bold, and Very, Very Loud Celebration of Peace)
(missing was Rodman Philbrook, Lupine for Zane and the Hurricane)