GIRLS, BOOKS, AND A BUS ride

Once upon a time two long-braided, blond girls rode the bus together to Artondale elementary school in Gig Harbor, Washington. They shared a Norwegian heritage, and they shared a love for literature. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books taught them about a girl who was brave, resilient and mischievous. Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Eight Cousins, and Rose in Bloom instructed them on how to have faith, be good and kind. And Jane Austen's books taught them to have a sense of decorum. Bravery, resilience, mischievousness, faith, goodness, kindness, and a sense of decorum, those are some important qualities to cultivate.

I found that tall blond after 40 years. Her name is Jenny, and she became an artist. Because we read stories about girls in the mid 1800’s, and I was writing a story about a little girl in Tacoma in 1910, I asked Jenny to draw a wren for my book, Come On In, Don't Get Lonesome. When you read it, you will know why I needed to place a little wren here and there throughout the pages of the book.