November Theme: Thankfulness (by Lisa Graff)

This month's theme at Smack Dab is thankfulness, and I've just returned from three days of school visits in Highland Park, Illinois, so I am thankful for a lot of things.

reading to a group of attentive 3rd graders at Braeside Elementary

I tend to think best in lists (and who doesn't love a good bullet point??), so what better way to enumerate the things for which I am thankful? Here then, in no particular order, the things for which, upon my return from school-visiting, I am thankful:

• awesome librarians who take the time in their insanely busy schedules to organize school visits: coordinating with school faculty, booking hotel rooms for visiting authors, ordering tons of books, and all the rest.
• awesome teachers who find ways to get their students excited about books and reading.
• awesome kids who ask awesome, thoughtful questions (my favorite of the week: "What did you intend your readers to get from your books, and do you think you succeeded?").
• PowerPoint presentations that actually work, and tech guys who can fix them when they don't.
• marathons of The Next Iron Chef on the hotel TV to keep me company while I autograph one bajillion postcards to hand out to students during the week.
• diet coke.
• Twix bars.
• good conversations about good books.
• and planes that arrive ten minutes early.

I had a wonderful time last week, and am hoping the rest of my visits this school year go half as well. A big shout-out and thank you to all my new friends in Highland Park!