Trina

About twenty years before I became the grownup me I am today, Trina Schart Hyman made this picture of me. She didn't know it was me, of course. She probably thought she was making a picture of herself, for all I know. But it's me. (Note the glasses on the head and the glasses on the nose. This is why I only own one pair of glasses - so that can't happen to me.) I first saw this picture as a greeting card we sold in the coffee store my dad owned. I was working there. I may even have placed the order with the rep who brought us the cards. And I used to own a copy of it for myself, but it got lost somewhere in all our moves. And here it is!

Thank you so much, Di!

I first got to know the work of Trina Schart Hyman in the wonderful and enchanting book, Stuck With Luck, which Hyman illustrated and I bought from the Weekly Reader Book Club (one of the best inventions for conventional schools EVER - remember it? You take home that impossibly thin newsprinty paper order sheet each month with your Weekly Reader from that week, and you check the boxes for the books you want, and you bring your money to school, and in a little while, the teacher gets a box from the Weekly Reader Book Club, and inside that box is your books! I ask you. Could there be anything more wonderful?).

I think I read this book several times while I was home sick from school. I was home sick from school a lot. And I loved this book. You can't really see it here - this is the only image I could find of the cover - but the picture is of the hapless boy who accidentally ends up with a terrier and a leprechaun and his life becomes a bit complicated by these things. (Hilariously, this book image is from a site about terriers!)

And now I have the image from that greeting card again. I sure hope something amazing happens to Di this month. I cannot thank her enough.