What do you see?

Bill Martin Jr, author of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, one of Helena's favourites, died August 11.

He loved language, as a thing in itself, and had a great ear for its rhythm.

A blessed thing happened to me as a child. I had a teacher who read to me. Of course, she was reading to all other children in the classroom, but I believed she was reading just to me because I was a nonreader.

It's his nonreader mindset that enabled him to tap into a language that children respond to.

Thanks, Bill, for helping me draw Helena into the world of books.