My favorite things to do are, of course, writing and reading, and spending time with my wife Jayne and my four children Laura, Julia, Alice, and Sam. We love to go to our family cabin near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. My brother and I helped our father build it back in 1975.

My first book was Children’s Jukebox: A Subject Index of Children’s Recorded Music, ALA Editions, 1995. It has since gone into a second edition out in 2007. I actually split the first book into two new books: Children’s Jukebox, second edition and the companion book Something Musical Happened at the Library, which has musical programming ideas and a large bibliography of children’s books that deal with music and dance.

My second book was the picture book Wave Goodbye. I actually wrote a rap titled “The Goodbye Rap," and featured that rap, as well as several others, in two articles for School Library Journal. Editor Liz Szabla, then with Lee and Low Books, saw the articles, called me up and asked me if they could turn “The Goodbye Rap" into a toddler book. Of course, I said YES!!! The titled was changed to Wave Goodbye and it was in print from 1996–2002. Wave Goodbye was named a Wisconsin Notable Book and a Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choice.

Check out the cover of Wave Goodbye adorning a statue in my hometown library of Itasca, Illinois.