Kids Q & A    

1.    If you were stranded in an ice cream parlor, what flavor ice cream would you eat first? 

Oh, this is a really hard question. I love vanilla, but if I’m trapped in the ice cream parlor (assuming the electricity isn’t off and all the ice cream is melting), I’d have all night to work my way over to the tub of vanilla, right? So I think I’d eat something really different first, like peppermint, or bubblegum. Anything but black licorice. I hate black licorice.
 
 
2.    What is your favorite insect? 

Funny you should ask. I used to love the praying mantis, because they are the coolest looking bug on the planet. But then one day, while I was in our front yard trimming the bushes, one bit me! ME! A person who has kept more than one kid from smashing the poor little things into green mush. But now, after the bite, I’m switching to house centipedes. Those things are amazing! And they can really move. I just hope they don’t bite.
 
3.    Where do you get your ideas?    

Don’t tell anyone, but there’s a great store, right down the street from me, called IDEAS R’ US. In front of the store are two huge wooden doors. All you have to do is say the magic word, the doors will swing open, and you’ll enter a store stuffed to the rafters with incredible story ideas. Take as many as you want. But if you ever tell anyone that the magic word is ONION, the doors will be closed to you forever…oops.
 
4.    Are you left-handed or right-handed? 

Thank you very much for asking. I am left-handed. Although sometimes I forget which hand is my left and which is my right. I think it’s because in school most of my teachers wanted me to do things right-handed. And they never had left-handed scissors. But it’s okay, I’m over it.
 
5.    You have four children. Which one is your favorite? 

Oh no, I’m not going to fall into that trap. If there’s one question you should NEVER answer as a parent, this is the one. Besides, what if one of my kids made you ask me that question? It could be any of them, they’re all very cunning. For example, any one of my children could skip up to me today and say, “Hello mother, you look lovely today!”, and then almost like magic, I’ll be opening my wallet and handing them five dollars. How does that happen? Someday, I’m going to videotape it and play it back, frame-by-frame. But think about it, if a compliment costs me five dollars, how much would naming a favorite child cost me? I’m sure I can’t afford it.