Elliora was so teeny nine months ago. Wow.

Anyway…does anyone remember this photo, and how I asked y’all to help me think of a funny caption, and then I did a poll to see who should win?

I’d say we have a clear winner:

Congratulations, kc! Your caption is especially appropriate because I just read all seven Harry Potter novels for the first time the week after New Year’s. I’d like to paint you a mug or bowl or something as a prize. Email me and we’ll talk details!

…commenter #8:

Congratulations, Laura! I’ll email you the details soon.

Brenda’s book tour is still going on. She’s up to letter O! Keep reading those posts and collecting the secret-agent phrases for your chance at the prize at the end of the tour.

You might remember that a few months ago, I did a giveaway of my good friend Brenda‘s first published book, Secret Agent Josephine’s ABC’s.

Spy eyes.

This book is baby-approved! (Photos by Brenda Ponnay)

I mentioned back then that Brenda had two more books she was working on, one about colors and one about numbers. Well, guess what. The spotted cuckoo is flying backwards.

They’re here! ABC’s, Colors, and Numbers! All three books are available on Amazon in paperback or ebook. All three books are full of the whimsical, clever illustrations that are Brenda’s trademark style.

Funny story about the letter U in the ABC’s book. Way back when Brenda was designing the alphabet cards that the ABC’s book is based on, she was trying to decide between unicorn and umbrella for the ‘U’ card, so she asked the nearest 3-year-old which one she liked better. The nearest 3-year-old happened to be Annalie, and she said, “Neither. You should do underwear!”)

3-year-olds: finding underwear hilarious since the dawn of time.

To celebrate the release of the third book, Brenda is doing a virtual book tour, with one stop for each letter of the alphabet. This here blog is the B stop (or one of them, anyway—thanks to a slight mix-up there are two B stops!) in case you hadn’t figured that out already. And as a special treat for you, the super-stealthy followers of the book tour, Brenda is offering you the chance to win a print of the letter B from the ABC’s book! To enter the print giveaway, leave a comment on this post…oh. let’s say, your favorite place that starts with the letter B. Comment before midnight PST on November 30th from anywhere in the world for a chance to win, and keep following the book tour for the rest of the alphabet over the coming weeks for more chances to win. (Stay tuned to my blog for the chance to win a copy of each of the books, too!)

B, I’m so proud of you for all the hard work you did getting these books illustrated and following your dream of being published! You said once on your blog a long time ago that you should do what you love, and you constantly remind me of that in the way you live your life. You complain about your job sometimes just like anyone else, but you do love what you do, and you inspire me and others to follow our passions too. Thank you for that, and for brightening our lives with your artistic talent. Good luck on the rest of your book tour!