I love it when awesome things happen...

Cole is an excellent reader... With that said, he doesn't normally dive into a book unless he really, REALLY likes it. End of November, he had been staying up reading a series of books by Alan St. Jean. He read through book one and book two. And only minutes after reading book two, he expressed some frustration because he wasn't due to visit the school library until the following week. Being the wonderful mom that I am, I offered to take him straight away to the local library to get book three. We inquired at the children's desk about the book, she checked to find that it was already checked out. But then she adds "You know Mr. St. Jean will be here tomorrow night doing a book signing right?" How convienient is that? So while the girls were dancing at the Christmas walk, Brian took Cole to the library to meet his favorite author. Bri said he was very impressed with the author, how personal he was and how wonderful he treated Cole. Cole was impressed that he got to "touch" book four which hasn't even been published yet. I was disappointed that I had the camera with me so there were no pics of Cole and his author friend. Then the next day I receive a message about a visit that Alan St. Jean was paying to Marysville Public Library. He would be talking about his writing, signing books and answering questions... The best part is it fell on a night with no sports practices. Yeah!! Shortly after finishing book three (which we had successfully reserved at the library), we went to listen to Mr. St. Jean at the library. This time I brought my camera! While talking to the author, Cole said how he was excited to read the next installment and Mr. St. Jean asked him if he would like one when they are published.... "um, ya!!" So Cole wrote his address on a sheet of notebook paper which Alan St. Jean stuck in his pocket. We listened to a very humerous talk, and I really enjoyed seeing my boy's enthusiasm for storytelling. Today I found this package in the mail.

Hand written by Alan St. Jean himself. And after tearing it open Cole found a hardcopy of the latest book, hot off the presses. The inside cover is signed, "To Cole: Alan St. Jean 2011". Let me just tell you what an impression this author has left for me. I can only imagine how these events have encouraged Cole's love for literature. And for him to take the time to send a book to a young fan, to take the time to meet with him and others like him at schools and libraries. And heck, God bless him for writing a book that my son wants to read for more than 20 minutes!!

** I need to add that I actually purchased the book that was sent to Cole yesturday. But it was a purchase that involved me handing Mr. St. Jean a 10 dollar bill and him wadding it up with Cole's addy and sticking it in his pocket. I half chalked it up to a donation to the wonderful author, and thought if he did ever receive the book it would most certainly come from the publisher in softback. Never, ever did I imagine that it would come from the author, and so timely at that!!