Step One = Eat whatever is put in your bowl. Tonight, leftover hamburgers (cold, yummy) and broccoli (undercooked, challenging)

Step Two = Go for a jaunty leash-free stroll, forget which house you live in, get retrieved from neighbor's front walk

Step Three = Dramatically upchuck dinner.

Step Four = Sniff messy good-smelling pile. Hello, have we met?

Step Five = Be rudely subjected to an intervention while attempting to reinhale dinner.

I don't know about the rest of you, but this vintage cuteoverload.com image really speaks to me. If there's a penguin in my next book, you'll know why.

It give me great pleasure to present the video that fellow children's book author Ayun "Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo" Halliday and I made during our "No Butts About Reading!" book tour (which we pulled together in typical seat-of-our-pants fashion with more than a little help from our families and friends!).

Extra-special thanks to the charming staff and patrons (and lions) of the New York Public Library, who didn't blink an eye at the two of us busting rhymes while hauling each other around on library carts. No butts about it, we particularly love to read at the library. Guaranteed!

Please enjoy this profile, courtesy of the good folks at my alma mater, Hampshire College:

Erica S. Perl

Did you also know that located on the Hamshire College campus is the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art? Nestled in an apple orchard, it makes for a dandy fall destination!

I swear the alumni office folks who profiled me did NOT put me up to saying that.