Shortly after Wave Goodbye was published, I got a call from my hometown library in Itasca, Illinois. They said they had commissioned a statue for their foyer and they would like Wave Goodbye to be the featured picture book on the statue.

I said, "I'd be honored" and they said, "No, we'd be honored" and we went back and forth a few times like that.

After securing visual permission from Lee and Low Books, the book was sent to the sculptor who decided to do both the front and back cover.

My mom passed away recently, but when she still lived in Itasca, I had this vision of a tour bus pulling up to the library and my mother taking Polaroids of the tourists standing by the statue and charging them a buck each. She was so thrilled with the statue—and the book, too—which was dedicated to her.

For more information about the statue, go to the Itasca Community Library.