Spotlight: Luis Gomez Sandi

July 15- Luis was born on this day in 1982 in Mexico City, Mexico. His favorite musician is John Lennon. His favorite drawing technique is pencil and pen and ink. He began to draw before he could read or write. Luis' favorite animals are dogs. He has three friendly, big dogs. Happy birthday Luis!

Spotlight: Grandma Arline

May 25- Mary Arline Wigley was born on this day in 1915. She was a very special person I loved very much. I knew for a long time I wanted to write her into a story in a special way. She appears in the story, The Terrible Scary Storm as herself. In the story, she comforts, educates and entertains her grandson during a thunderstorm. Grandma Arline was a delightful, insightful, fun, caring, thoughtful person. I'm glad readers will get to know and her love her too. She did not ever get to read the story I wrote for her, but her husband, Grandpa Jay did, and said it was a wonderful tribute to a beautiful woman. Grandma Arline, thank you for inspiring the story, The Terrible Scary Storm. You will always be in our hearts!

Spotlight: Bud Weightman

May 17- Happy birthday to Bud Weightman. Bud is the co-author and inspiration for the story Peeper the Duck. Bud wrote Peeper to share some adventures with his granddaughters, that he and his son, Mark, had raising a duckling. Bud still likes ducks. He even has the illustrations from the story framed and displayed in his house.

Contest! *Try a New Food*

Please share your favorite adventure! Tell us about a young person in your life who is a picky eater, how he or she finally tried a new food, only eats something a certain way, or has a quirky food preference. The winner will receive a FREE signed copy of Try a New Food.

Contest closes May 31, 2009.

Spotlight: Tall, strong farm worker

April 6- Happy birthday to Ryan James. He is the real-life inspiration for the character "the tall, strong, farm worker" featured in the story Escape to the Orchard. Ryan has a great way of relating to animals, especially when they need to be rounded up. He even chose the Confirmation name "Francis" after Saint Francis of Assisi, the saint for animals. As a small child, Ryan James was not a very adventuresome eater, and preferred cereal as often as possible especially Kix. This trait served as an inspiration for the story, Try a New Food, with the picky piglet using many of Ryan James' same comments about trying something new. Thank you for your inspiration, Ryan! Enjoy your favorite chocolate-chocolate birthday cake today. Love, Mom

Proudly presenting, in print, Peeper the Duck!

We got our first real copies of Peeper the Duck today! I want to send all my thanks and appreciation to Roberto Ramierez Sr at Alta Vision Printing for helping proof read the Spanish version and Roberto Jr for rapidly completing the job. A big "Thank you" and "Muchas Gracias!" for all their help and hard work on this project.

This story is special because it has a new feature. Illustrator, Luis Gomez Sandi added an art lesson on how to draw Peeper the Duck at the end of the book. Check it out!

Previous Poll Answers

Poll #9- Luis signs his work "LAGS". What does the letter "A" stand for? Answer- Antonio

Poll #8- This year, how is the "Little Boy Who Likes to Chase Pigs"? Answer- 12 years old

Poll#7 Who is the pig named Romeo? Answer- The father of Gladys' eight piglets

Poll #6 In which story do we meet Grandma Arline? Answer- The Terrible Scary Storm

Poll #5 Who is Bud Weightman? Answer- Owner of Peeper the Duck

Poll #4 Who was the real-life inspiration for the character, "the nice lady in brown boots"?
Answer- Amelia Jean Williams

Poll #3 Who was the real-life inspiration for the character, "the tall, strong farm worker"? Answer- Ryan James Williams

Poll #2 What is Gladys' middle name? Answer- Louise

Poll #1 How many piglets does Gladys have? Answer- 8.
There names are: Hammie, Gizzy, Dewey, Fawn, Bytes, Vienna, Pinky, and Missy.

Spotlight: Gladys

March 30 is Saint Gladys' day, so it seems like a good day to share about the real Gladys. Gladys came to our farm a small, kind of shy, sweet, black piglet of Hampshire breed origins. The name Gladys, came from a favorite flower in my garden, the Gladiolus. They are strong, elegant and beautiful, like the pig. Gladys' middle name, Louise, was just a name I liked. Favorite snacks: yeast rolls, large chunk dry dog food, cantaloupe and watermelon. Least favorite foods: onions and grapefruit. Favorite past-times: rooting in the pasture, playing in the shallow parts of the creek, and laying under the home-made mister, I made from an old leaky hose and hung over a low place near the pig barn. Gladys was the first pig in the herd to learn the trick of sitting like a dog and catching a piece of food off the end of her nose. She learned the trick faster and did it with more accuracy than the family dog. Pigs really are friendly and intelligent. I hope you enjoy reading about her adventures!

April showers bring May flowers! How do you spend rainy days?

Last night we had a big rain storm, so this topic became today's inspiration. In the Piggy Tales adventure, The Terrible Scary Storm, the little boy who likes to chase pigs and Grandma Arline have some very special activities for rainy days. Here's a sneak peak from the story:

A loud clap of thunder rolled through the sky and echoed in the valley. A burst of lightening flashed across the sky. The little boy held tightly to Grandma Arline. "Are you afraid of the storm?" she asked. The little boy nodded his head. "Let's go inside. It will be okay," said Grandma Arline.

The little boy held his grandma's hand. "Storms are just light and noise," explained Grandma Arline. "Here, take this flashlight and I'll show you."

"Okay," said the little boy.

"Now, turn the light on, then off, and make the biggest noise you can possibly make," said Grandma Arline. "You can pretend to act like a storm."

The little boy giggled. "It's okay for me to make noise in the house?" he asked.

Grandma smiled and nodded her head.

Please share your special rainy day activities!

News about Luis, the illustrator

Luis' biography has changed. Karen is no longer his "lovely girlfriend". As of November 16, 2008, Karen is his lovely wife! Congratulations Luis and Karen!