August 8, 2007
Greetings and salutations!
I'm so excited this morning. I just got the "hot-off-the-press" copy of my new book "The Mystery of the Burmese Bandicoot". It's the first in a new series about two daring fifth-grade pet rats--Frederick and Ishbu. The series is called, "The Tails of Frederick and Ishbu".
The book looks wonderful. The cover art is by Omar Rayyan. He really captured my vision of the two rats, and the other characters. My editor was Robin Benjamin. The book is published by Marshall Cavendish.
Frederick and Ishbu are based on two rats that I had as pets in my kindergarten classroom in West Linn, Oregon. To entertain my students while they waited for the bus, I used to tell long, complicated stories of the adventures the rats had when the children had left for the day. I ended each segment with "to be continued..." It proved to be a marvelous way to keep them quiet while they waited, extend their vocabulary, and enhance their attention spans and listening skills. And--it led to this series.
I have just finished the second book in the series--as yet untitled. It's going to be a corker!
