I was involved, as usual, as an ambassador in South Australia’s Premier’s Reading Challenge in which children are given a medal for reading 12 books during the year. It’s a tremendous program which has increased children’s reading for pleasure, hurrah, as well as having a marked effect on their literacy. The premier, Mike Rann, (equivalent of a state governor in the USA) is a hands-on participant in this drive to get kids to love to read. The children in their first year of participation get a certificate. The years following they receive bronze, silver, gold, Champion, Legend and finally Hall of Fame medals. This a photo of me wearing a couple of the medals. (I often wear ALL of them during presentations to impress the kids–hah!–and to make them laugh.)

TEN LITTLE FINGERS AND TEN LITTLE TOES has been translated into French, Dutch, German and Italian. This is me, this week, in the home of Italian/Australian neighbours.