My very first favorite book was Pumpkin Moonshine, by Tasha Tudor. My mother says she read it to me a thousand times!

    Other childhood favorites were Big Susan, by Elizabeth Orton Jones; Now We Are Six, by A. A. Milne; The Deep River Girl, by Harry J. Albus (a biography of singer Marian Anderson, whom I had heard sing when I was about 8 years old); Kudla and His Polar Bear, by Miriam MacMillan; Brighty of the Grand Canyon, by Marguerite Henry; and Robert McKloskey's Make Way for Ducklings.
 

   More favorites I now read with my four grandchildren: Barnyard Dance, by Sandra Boynton; Marven of the Great North Woods, by Kathryn Lasky; When Marian Sang, by Pam Munoz Ryan; and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski.

    A few more favorites I look forward to sharing with my grandkids before many more years: Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry; Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard; and Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan.

    Two current favorite nonfiction books are Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and The Brooklyn Bridge, by Lynn Curlee.
 

    TRAVEL – by car, boat, plane, train – in the U.S. and beyond. I love it! People and places of the world fascinate me. National parks and forests are among my favorite places – wonderful for hiking, tenting, and taking pictures.
 

   SPORTS – my favorites are swimming, canoeing, and skiing. I skied with my dad until he was 87. I haven't tried snowboarding, but it looks like a lot of fun!

    I have a few "SIT-DOWN" HOBBIES besides reading. My mother taught me to sew and to knit when I was very young, and I still enjoy both. Plus needlepoint and woodcarving. And I simply cannot resist crossword puzzles, cryptograms, sudokus, and an occasional jigsaw puzzle!