From bright morning sun streaming in the bedroom window to bedtime kisses given from sticky toasted-marshmallow lips, here is the joyful activity of a perfect summer day. In between is time for baking sand cakes, hanging teepees under a tree, paddling in the wading pool, and picking and eating fresh corn and beans from the garden. Young and old will relish this warm evocation of the simple pleasures of summer. Kick off your shoes to taste this sweet and satisfying treat!
Even before I could read, I wanted to tell stories. I'd block out a comic strip and draw stories with stick figures. Later, after I started school, I would climb the willow tree in my backyard, where I'd write in my journal and make lists of favorite words. As a teenager, I wrote poetry and my own Nancy Drew mysteries, but I never imagined being an author. I didn't think authors were real people.
I became many other things when I grew up--a teacher, wife, mother, but all the while, I was writing...
Linda Crotta Brennan is the Award-winning author of Marshmallow Kisses, Flannel Kisses, North Carolina: Rookie Read About Geography, The Black Regiment of the American Revolution, and a contributor to The American Notable Women Series. Her latest book, Women of the Golden State: 25 California Women You Should Know was published in Fall 2009. Women of the Empire State: 25 New York Women You Should Know is due out soon.
