ALBANY, NY — I won an AWARD!!!The Denise McCoy Legacy Award for humorous children’s literature was given to Alvin Ho Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals and Other Fatal Circumstances. Woohoo!!! Yay!!! Hooray!!!

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I’ve struggled for more than a month to tell you about it.

Worse, I’m still struggling.

How hard could it be to tell you about winning an award?

Not hard at all, I thought. It’s the first award I’d ever won in which I was invited to a special dinner, signed a sqillion books, sat on a stage while someone made a speech about my work, got a super-duper trophy plus a huge check!

It’s very author’s dream come true!

So why couldn’t I just come out with it?

Was I dazed? A deer caught in the flashbulbs?

Yes and no. To tell you the details of what happened would have been no problem. The problem is not the accounting of facts, but the rendering of something that cannot easily be explained, or fully known.

So let me start with the facts, the easy part.

Denise McCoy, who spelled her name with a little d, was a bookseller in Albany. She sold many books. She especially sold many children’s books. If you had a homework assignment and didn’t know which book to use, she could tell you exactly what you needed. Her favorite books were the funny ones which made you laugh. She herself liked to laugh and to make people laugh. She was little and fat. She could ride a horse, no problem. Once she slipped a little and rode a horse upside-down and laughed as though that were the normal way of riding a horse. Her friends are still laughing about it. That’s only one of many funny stories about denise. Her biggest talent was making friends. Very, very good friends.

Denise died in 2003. But her friends are still her friends, and they are friends with one another. Every year for the past nine years they’ve gotten together and continued denise’s work. They read a bunch of children’s books and they pick the funniest one and give it the Denise McCoy Legacy Award (formerly the Little d Award). They invite the author to dinner. They present the award at a ceremony. They arrange for the author to visit an inner city school. They give away hundreds of autographed copies of the winning book to young readers throughout the capitol city.

Denise’s oldest very, very good friend friend is Lynn Derry, from first grade. Lynn picked me up from my hotel and brought me to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant. The room was filled with denise’s closest friends and relatives.

This is where it gets hard.

I don’t have a photo of Lynn, but here is a photo of her husband, George Chelius:George said he was “accidentally in the restaurant,” as he greeted the ladies around the table. When he got to me, he started to read from this letter that he wrote to the Boston Red Sox outfielder, Jim Rice.In it, he says that he is sending Rice a silver dollar that he always keeps in his pocket. He is continuing his father’s tradition of giving it to a stranger having a special occasion. He says that not only will the silver dollar bring him luck, but it will assure him induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame the following year.

And presto! Rice is inducted into the Hall of Fame the next year (2009), and sends autographed balls and a photo to George;With that, George reached into his pocket and presents me with a silver dollar!

I’m struck speechless.

Then he reaches into a bag and gives me something else —

His own treasured baseball — signed by Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

Just because he knew I’m a Red Sox fan (see Alvin books!).

Something inside me explodes, like a little cup unable to hold the sun.

How else do you describe the transformation that happens when you receive such unselfish kindness and generosity from a complete stranger? All I could think of was the scene in Victor’s Hugo’s Les Miserable where the monsignor gives Jean Valjean the silver candlesticks that he had intended to steal. It changes Valjean forever. I felt like that. Changed.

Here I am holding my newly bestowed treasures: Thank you, George!!! You didn’t stay for dinner, but your gesture was repeated over and over again that evening.

As I sat at the table with denise’s friends, the room filled with kind words. Memories. Funny stories. Laughter. Their long-treasured friendships surrounded me on all sides and pressed me in.

I marveled. I wondered.

Were it not for denise, none of us would have been there. Her friends would be going home from their jobs. George would have kept his silver dollar in his pocket and his baseball in a safe place.

And the next day I would not have gone to the Griffen School in downtown Albany, where Ms. Derry presented me with the award and I gave an author presentation. The young authors at the school would not have had a yummy pizza lunch while I held a writers’ workshop.I never would have met Shareem, who was filled with all sorts of wonderful ideas for his writing:And wonderful ideas for his pizza too!!!

I wouldn’t have signed a sqillion books for Shareem’s school: Or signed a sqillion more for the young readers and their families who came to the annual book giveaway at the offices of 15Love, started by the tennis great Arthur Ashe, which teaches life skills to youths through tennis and educational programs. Nor would I have this beautiful trophy: Do you see the word, “legacy” above? It means a gift from the past — in this case, a gift of friendship that continues to inspire, to be life-giving, and life-changing.

Thank you, denise.

And many thanks to her friends and family at the dinner who shared with me a side of life that is so hard to describe because it is both poetic and sacred:  Lynn Derry, Gail Donovan, Joann Hoose, Eleanor McCoy, Katherine McCoy, Mary Williams, Allyson Shea and Amber Marino. It was a real honor to sit among you.

And a special thank you to Tom O’Brien, denise’s brother, who first notified me of their award.

And thank you again to George, whose lucky silver dollar I carry with me everywhere.

Past recipients of the Little d:

Bruce Hale Murder, My Tweet
Christopher Paul Curtis, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money
Sara Pennypacker, Clementine
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Lois Lowry, The Willoughbys
Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
Tom Angleberger, The Strange Case for Origami Yoda
Tommy Greenwald, Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading

BARRINGTON, IL — My visits to Countryside School and Barbara B. Rose School in late April started nearly four years ago when this kid named Alvin, I mean Aidan:wrote me this awesome letter:

“Alvin Ho is scared in the dark.”

Then his younger sister, Joelle, wrote to me in 2012:Followed by his little brother, Brennan, who not only sent this beautiful card last year, but included a jaw-dropping CD of himself reading BRUSH OF THE GODS:Aren’t they marvelous?!!!

Additionally, when I first put up this blog, Aidan saw it and immediately (it was that bad) volunteered his dad’s services to make it look better. The next day his dad, Bill, had given this blog a complete makeover, and he’s been my blog’s unpaid administrator ever since! There but for the kindness of strangers go I! Thanks, Aidan and Bill!!!

So when their librarians invited me to visit their schools in a northwest suburb of Chicago, what could I say?

YESSSS!!!! Of course!

So on the evening of Wednesday, April 23, Aidan, Joey, Brennan, their amazing mom, Sidney, and their super-duper dad, Bill, became strangers no more:After they picked me up from my hotel, they whisked me out for — Chicago-styled pizza!!!

You can’t eat it like regular pizza.You have to use a fork!

It was SOOO good, I can’t even tell you.

After dinner we went to a fancy gourmet chocolate shop where everything was the color of chocolate, even the couch: We ate up our chocolates faster than we could drool, but we got to sit around the fireplace anyway :).

After that they took me to their house so that I could see where they lived.Brennan, who is an author, shared his book with me.

And I shared mine with him.I was remiss in bringing my reading glasses, so had to use a magnifying glass. It was such great fun! I felt like I was visiting Alvin, Calvin and Anibelly!

The next day, I went to Countryside School, where Brennan is a kindergartener. This is Valerie Baartz, my amazing librarian-host at Countryside.

Countryside began offering a Chinese-immersion program last year where you can opt to have a half-day of instruction entirely in Mandarin, five days a week, starting in kindergarten. Imagine learning how to count — in Chinese and on an abacus! It’s a good thing I’ve been going to Chinese school!  Here I am giving my first Mandarin presentation and showing off my Chinese practice book to the kindergarteners and first-graders:It was great!

Until I used up my entire Chinese vocabulary.

And there were forty minutes left to my presentation.

Oops.

Lucky for me, I could count up to 9,999 in Chinese and knew the Chinese words for the Great Wall, Forbidden City and several other tourist attractions to keep things going for a while . . . Plus, I had a few old tricks up my sleeve, like the original egg from POLKA DOT PENGUIN POTTERY, which is usually good at producing some oohs and aahs . . . My audience was suitably impressed, I assure you! Painted eggs, as everyone knows, speak a universal language that everyone understands. (Don’t be fooled by the photo bomb in the lower right-hand corner above.)

After my day of presentations and book signing was over at Countryside, Ms. Baartz rolled the “goods” out the door . . .  and drove me to a parking lot somewhere outside of Chicago, where we met a squirmy, bespectacled, lead-footed, brake-squealing character, and some nefarious transactions took place from the back of her car:Sometimes when you’re an author, it’s best to stand there like an idiot and keep your mouth shut, especially so close to the Windy City. You know why they call it that, don’t you? Well, lemme just say this wasn’t the first time questionable stuff happened from the back of a car, in broad daylight, near Chicago . . .

Or the first time that someone who writes for a living gets pushed into a booth in a dark restaurant with a strange name, Claims  . . . something, afterwards.

Gulp.

But the food was good! And the company, fascinating. There are no photos, however, on account of we had to eat in a hurry. They do things swiftly around here, not like in New York, where people sit around all night taking pictures of their food.

Anyway, they must have drugged me or something because I went willingly back to Countryside School where the Student Art Fair was in full swing:And Firecracker Man was bursting around the place: And I willingly and happily read excerpts from my forthcoming Alvin Ho book . . . to a new audience every 10-minutes from 6:30 to 8 o’clock.

But that was not all . . .

Many books were waiting to be cooked, I mean inked, in my dimly lit hotel room that night, or else!  Or else I would be cooking, I mean signing late into the night the next day and miss my flight!

How I ever got up the next morning and made it to the Barbara B. Rose School, I’ll never know.But here I am — vertical — with happy young friends and with that slippery, bespectacled, rubber-burning, back-of-the-car wheeler-dealer creature from yesterday. Her name is Pam Meiser, and she’s actually the pencil-bunned, cart-swivelling, encyclopedia-brained, super-nova librarian who had orchestrated my visit to the two schools. Thank you, Pam!!!

Inside, I was greeted by this fantastic banner:In Chinese it says, “Welcome! We love your books!” and “Happy!” Then two Indian brothers greeted me in fluent Chinese and explained that their triplet brother was at home sick, but had made me a special poster, displayed next to the happy yellow banner:Thank you, Milan!

The Rose School was the first school in the district to offer a half-day Chinese-immersion program, so the students here are older and more advanced than Countryside’s. In fact, many students greeted me in Mandarin and continued to converse in Chinese with me as though it were normal to be conversing in Chinese everyday. Because it was!

Gulp.

I was in trouble now. How was I ever going to fake another presentation in Mandarin without being found out???!!!

How to Give a 60-minute Speech in Mandarin When You Know Only Five-minutes Worth:

1. Smile. (5 min.)

2. Wave. (5 min.)

3. Embarrass someone. (10 min.)

4. Wear a dress that makes you look sexy. (Strut: 10 min.)

5. Ask some questions. (5 min.)

6. Do NOT sing along when the Chinese class sings to you in Chinese. (3 min.)Do not even THINK of it. (2 nanosec.)

8. Do NOT sing along when the younger Chinese class sings to you in Chinese. (3 min.)They are super-duper adorable. But you are not. You’re not even close.

8. Teach them Shakespearean insults. (10 min.)In English.

9. Pit them one against another. (10 min.)

10. Cross your fingers and hope to die if all that fake Elizabethan English doesn’t wreck havoc on their pitch-perfect Mandarin tones. (30 sec.)

11. When all else fails, de-mic! De-mic! (normally 4 sec., but due to hair-detangling: 4 min.)

12. RUN!!! (30 sec.)

13. But don’t run into the Chinese classroom . . . Oops!

Or you’ll have to show them what you really know.

Then have a face-to-face with Wei Laoshi . . . and use up your entire vocabulary all over again.

THANK YOU, Countryside and Rose School PTOs, for making my visit possible. THANK YOU, Pam and Valerie, for the tremendous amount of work that you did to make my visit simply PERFECT. THANK YOU, Moy Family, for all your kindness as strangers, and now as friends. THANK YOU, Sidney, for taking all these marvelous pictures. And THANK YOU, Aidan, for starting it all. You’re the dude, man. You ROCK!!!

DENVILLE, NJ — I have some catching up to do with posting school visits. I was at the lovely Riverview School in Morris County, in March. It was a busy place. As soon as I arrived, which was before the start of the school day, students were already at work on their Rube Goldberg devices:These projects were being constructed in a room adjoining the library.

And this is Linda Breder, my librarian-host:Ms. Breder was the children’s librarian at the Randolph Public Library, where I used to   bring my girls for story hour when they were little. She’s known me for a LONG time. In fact, she knew me before I had my first book published. She was always very supportive of my career and made sure that her library carried my books. And now that she’s in a school, she’s making sure that her students are READING my books. The halls were decorated with book projects for my visit:What colorful PDKs and Polka Dot Penguin eggs!

And cookies and cupcakes were decorated for my lunch:Yum!!!

After my presentations, young authors joined me for a writer’s workshop and pizza:And we were all still smiling and having great fun at the end of it! But what a mess we left for Ms. Breder to clean up!

Then I had to get to work signing lots of books. No more fooling around! Thank you, Riverview PTO for sponsoring my visit! I really enjoyed visiting with some of the moms as I signed, and I had such a fantastic day at your school. Thank you, Riverview young readers, for reading my books and for all your enthusiasm and energy! And thank you, Ms. Breder, for your wonderful support through the years. I appreciate you more than you know!

The ALVIN HO series is coming out in China!!!!! Published by Shanghai Gaotan, here’s the first cover! Isn’t it awesome??? I just LOVE it!!!

Hey wait, where’s my name? My Chinese name is nowhere on the cover! Nor my English name. Hey, what’s going on here?