We loved reading books reading books when we were kids. We loved having books read to us and there were names that I can remember from my childhood that are still

exciting to say out loud like Maurice Sendak and Arnold Lobele and Roll Dahl and every night I got to hang out with them and hear the adventures of

you know that William Stie created and and there was something just really magical about the people

that were responsible for that Stephen Kellogg.

One day at our local public library Stephen Kellogg, he wrote the mysterious Tadpole, among other things.

He was going to be speaking at our library and reading one of his books and I couldn't believe that a human being was responsible for that.

I remember, I knew his names so well because every night we would look at these books and we would see the names,

but I just couldn't believe that real people adults had that kind of an

imagination and they could create stories that I was just swept away by every

night as told brilliantly by our mother. It just seemed like frog and toad. It just seemed like they were real creatures having real adventures.

When I think when I was that age I didn't I couldn't separate that. It seemed like I was I had a window into their lives

together yeah and it was I didn't really have a concept of someone creating that out of

their imagination you know both have to not not have the concept that a human being created

characters that you loved?

I know, I didn't either.

That they just, it just happened.

It was like, I just figured one of them wrote it down, like Frog or Toad just kind of chronicled what they were going through.

I guess that's one of the things that separates kids and adults is the realization of that.

And now this next generation, namely our nephews,

have their own literary heroes that they're obsessed with.

And I think no characters are more beloved right now than

Elephant and piggy and pigeon these that at least from my perspective those are the characters that were like

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