11 Years, 1,000,000 Books, 700 reviews and One Giveaway!

***** GIVEAWAY ENDS NOVEMBER 30, 2016 *****

My first book, May I Please Have a Cookie? was released in October of 2005.  I never dreamed it would still be going strong a decade later.  In the past eleven years it has sold over one million copies.  And this month the number of Amazon reader reviews surpassed 700. Thank you everyone for all the kind words for Alfie the Alligator.  I'm thrilled that so many people enjoy Alfie the cookie-loving alligator.

Here are some samples from the original dummy proposal that I submitted to Scholastic next to the final artwork as it appears in the book.  There are no words in the dummy version because I originally envisioned it as a wordless picture book.  The only words in the original were, "Please may I have a cookie?" and "Thank you".  I never thought it would get published as part of the Scholastic Reader series.  Heck, I never thought I could write a book!

As you can see most of the illustration spreads didn't change much. But my editor for the book, Liz Mills, made some astute suggestions to the text that I think really helped to make the book a success.

One thing that did change was the title.  Marketing thought a more polite title would be more appealing. 

The book is still published as a Scholastic Reader but many people have told me that their toddlers really enjoy the book.  So I was thrilled when Scholastic released a baby board book edition and a bilingual English/Spanish board book edition.

Thanks again everyone for your kind reviews of Alfie.  I read them as I think most author's do and it really makes my day when someone says they really enjoyed my book.  So if you read a book and like it, I encourage to leave a nice review.  I'm sure the author will really appreciate it.

Now for the giveaway....

Enter below to win one of five signed copies of May I Please Have a Cookie?  (Paperback, board book or bilingual - your choice)