Good morning, Hank. It's Tuesday.
I've been thinking a lot about my friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal,
who, Hank, has written a lot of amazing picture books that I'll be sending you in the coming months.
She also wrote the brilliant book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,
and, as it happens, gave me one of my first big breaks.
By the way, Hank, this video is like Plato's theory of the soul; it comes to you in three parts.
Part One: My Big Break
So way, way back in 2002, I was working at Booklist Magazine,
and Amy emailed me in a professional capacity
and then I replied in a mostly professional capacity,
while also acknowledging that I was a massive fan of hers.
We struck up a correspondence, and then one day she asked me if I had ever written anything about two minutes long
that might work for WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station.
I didn't have anything two minutes long, but I went home that night, wrote a little essay,
and then Amy invited me in to record it.
And over the next few years, I got to record dozens of essays for WBEZ,
and a few for the national NPR show, All Things Considered,
and that was definitely very helpful to me when I was trying to
get my foot in the publishing door to sell Looking For Alaska.
But looking back, getting me on the radio wasn't actually the big break that Amy gave me.
The real break was that, as both a writer and a person,
Amy taught me that for stories to work, readers and writers must both be generous.
Like, when I read Persuasion as a 15 year old and declared it to be crap,
the problem was not with Jane Austen.
I wasn't reading generously, I was looking for things to dislike,
which meant that I was going to find them, even if they weren't there.
And writing is the same way, I think what makes Amy's books so special
is that she's not trying to wow or impress the reader,
she's trying to make a gift for them.
Okay, Part Two: 8/8/08.
So, Hank, flash forward a few years to August 8th, 2008.
That was a big day in our lives, Hank. We had our first huge nerdfighter gathering,
assisted by the fact that it happened to coincide with the Harry Potter convention.
That was also the day I first met Rosianna, who at the time was a high school student,
but is now my production partner in movie stuff.
And that evening, Amy hosted an event at The Bean in Chicago's Millennium Park called the Beckoning of Lovely.
It was a really special gathering, and a lot of that day has stuck with me,
but I think what stuck with me the most is being in the dusk at Millennium Park,
with hundreds of other people and singing a song that English soldiers sang a hundred years ago
to the tune of Auld Lang Syne: We're here because, we're here because, we're -
You're not watching this video to hear me sing.
Point being: The Beckoning of Lovely was amazing.
Okay, Part Three: 8/9/16
So it's now eight years later and Amy has just finished a new book, Textbook,
which is a companion to Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.
She wrote, "It's not a prequel or a sequel; hopefully it's an equal."
The book comes out next Tuesday and she's hosting another gathering at The Bean
on 8/9/16, and if you live near Chicago, you should really stop by.
You can find out more by watching this video or there is a link in the dooblydoo below.
But it's gonna be special and fascinating and generous like everything Amy does.
Also, even if you don't live in Chicago, I hope you'll join me in reading Textbook.
There are links to get it in the dooblydoo.
Hank, I think we all have people in our lives whose generosity has lifted us up
or helped hold us together.
And I guess I've just been thinking a lot about those people in the context of your big news, Hank.
Nerdfighters, I'd love to hear about who those people have been in your lives in the comments.
I know it's easy to forget amidst the torrent of bad news that we are here for each other
and lucky to have each other. But, we are. So thank you.
Hank, I will actually see you tomorrow, because it will be Esther Day.
Speaking of which, I love you.
