Shovelful of Sunshine

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."  
Benjamin Franklin


   So. It's always with hope that I welcome the coming of a new book. It won't be long before I can set it on the shelf with all of the others I've written &/or illustrated over the years. And with every single one of them, the question was the same: Will people like it?  BY GOLLY, I DEVOUTLY HOPE SO! 

 This one is not one that I've written, but it IS one that I 
got to illustrate. It will be published in October.  Shovelful of Sunshine was written by Stacie Vaughn Hutton of Ohio and hers is a touching story about a little girl who worries about the dangers her daddy faces when he goes to his job, down deep in the mines where the sun never shines.  And how the two of them, together, come to terms with those worries. Find the sunlight.

  We weren't shoveling coal, but we worked very hard on the words and the pictures. We met the task. Now let there be luck!

   And, completely by the way, one of my favorite actresses of all time was born on this day in history. Gosh, she was so wonderful.