No offense, teachers.  Some of my best friends are teachers (including my best, best friend, my husband). 

But around my house, when my kids were little, these were bittersweet days.  Goodbye to staying up late and sleeping in.  Adios, running through the sprinkler and eating lunch in your bathing suit.  Farewell, doing nothing, which always turns out to be something.  New backpacks and sharp, fresh crayons are very nice, but these were always bittersweet days.

Even though my girls are all grown up now, normally a bit of that melancholy still tinges the air. My husband, after all, has to go back to school (teachers are sorry to see summer end, too).  But this year is different.  Because just as summer ebbs, something totally, scarifyingly new is beginning.  Instead of my children, I’m sending FOX STREET out into the world.  Go, little book!