Where someone loved her best of all

Almost 16 years ago, before the house and before the kids, we agreed to foster a cat. Abandoned by her mother in infancy, she was to be with us only for a few weeks until she was strong enough for adoption. Thinking our time with her was to be brief we named her quickly while watching football on a Sunday afternoon: Reggie, for Green Bay Packer defensive end Reggie White, even though she was decidedly feminine. Reggie had the brightest blue eyes, the longest whiskers and the bushiest tail we'd ever seen. At the end of the fostering period, she had imprinted herself on us—me especially—and the idea of handing her over to someone else was out of the question.

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Fan mail and a spot in Bestsellers!

Updated on Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 1:27PM by Alison DeLory

I had a fantastic time at my Writers in the Schools visit to Windsor Elementary School yesterday. Rather than visit a lot of classes, the school took the unusual step of scheduling me to spend the whole day with the grade 3/4 class. This had me a little nervous. I wasn't sure if I could keep a classroom of kids ages 8, 9 and 10 interested in lessons on writing for the entire day. I needn't have worried. This was the most engaged, enthusiastic group of learners I'd ever met, and both their teacher and school deserve high praise.

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Time for a girl revolution

It's not always easy being a girl, whether you live in Canada or Afghanistan.

This morning I spoke at a local junior high school on a "Girl Revolution" panel. (With Meghan Swim, pictured on the left, and April Macleod, right.) I'm not going to sugarcoat it—this was a tough crowd. The 100 or so kids shuffled in their seats and talked over me and the other two speakers. When it was time for questions, there were none. My co-presenter April Macleod pointed out that we were the only thing coming between these kids and their lunch. While some in the room showed interest, it was cooler for others to horse around than engage with our message about following their dreams and how girls and the boys can be successful in whatever field they decide to pursue provided they work hard, seek help, and learn from their mistakes rather than become defeated by them.

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Lunar Lifter's Official Launch Party

It was a big day! My first published novel, Lunar Lifter, "officially" launched with an event at my local library this afternoon. I am relieved to report it went very well. I made it through the reading without too many bumps, enjoyed watching children (and a few playful adults!) pose inside the Lunar Lifter photo booths, and signed a lot of books.

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Caine's Arcade and old-fashioned Earth Day fun

Video URL: http://vimeo.com/40000072Talk about inspiration! With nothing to do last summer while his dad worked in the office of his East Los Angeles auto-body shop, a nine-year-old boy named Caine turned packing boxes into a cardboard arcade. His games included mini-basketball and mini-soccer. He taped old calculators to each game for PIN code access and manually distributed tickets for winning. He charged just $2 for a 500-game fun pass card, but business was slow. Most people were ordering their used car parts on-line. Then one day, a customer walked in and played in Caine's arcade. The customer had so much fun he decided to help Caine drum up business. You must watch the video to see what happened when the story of Caine's arcade went viral. If you're not moved at end (10:50 minute mark) when Caine says, "I thought they were here for me. And they were. And I was proud," then you might want check to see if you still have a pulse.

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