Before moving on, I want to publicly apologize to Chrissie for making it sound as though she agreed with pushing kids away from picture books to chapter books. As she clarifies oh-so-gracefully in her comment, this is not true. Please read her comment; it’s a great addition to the conversation. I also apologize to those of you who read the post and cringed. Cringing isn’t fun, either.

Mike put it ever so gently this way: “Sometimes you don’t say things in the best possible way.”

Huh. Really?

Whoops! Pardon me. I didn’t mean to step on you.

I know Chrissie, and I understood and appreciated her point. I never thought for a second that she was offering support for rushing children away from picture books. She advocates for children and literacy, and she lives in the art world. I could explain that the post started as a private note to my critique group, where everyone knows Chrissie, and everyone recognizes crappy writing. In the end, though, it comes down to one thing: my being sloppy, hasty, and lazy. So, apologies all around. I’d like to say it won’t happen again, but chances are good it will. Feel free to clarify or call me on it.

Don’t lose sight of the subject, though. It’s important.