It is World Turtle Day!  Founded in 1990, it was started to help increase respect and knowledge for the world's oldest creature. 

Many a time the family car of my childhood stopped on a rural road to help a turtle get to the other side safely.  A time or two we took a turtle home for the weekend--something that is not recommended for the sake of the poor turtle.  We all know better now and our love of turtles endures.

Please celebrate the beauty of the Missouri box turtle, the Florida sea turtle, and the like.  Help preserve turtle and tortoise species throughout the world.  It would be a diminished world without them. Check out tortoise.com for more information.

If Susanna Leonard Hill says she is going to send you something, believe her. My cover design for The "Princess" and the Pete came in fifth in her First Ever Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest. (See previous post.) As the title suggests, this was a fun event that introduced me to the supportive group of children's book writers, illustrators and fans that follow her blog.  Contest results were posted Monday; Susanna gave me the choice of one of five books as my prize, and my book arrived on Friday.  Not bad.

Without hesitation I chose Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz.  In 2010, I had the privilege of meeting him at a local book signing.  He was kind and very supportive of my efforts in publishing. You can check out his many books here. The photo above shows my new book and Mr. Shulevitz's signature from our meeting years ago.