I’d like to take a break from our regularly scheduled cause (Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy) to alert you to another cause program that will begin just as ours ends.

Robert’s Snow is a couple of things. First, it is a book by Grace Lin about a mouse that gets lost in the snow. This is a great holiday book, and with the holidays approaching, you should give it a look.

Robert’s Snow is also a fund raiser for cancer research, specifically The Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Now, a little background on this program. Children’s author/illustrator Grace Lin wrote the story, Robert’s Snow, to entertain her husband as he underwent treatment for Ewing’s sarcoma (bone cancer). Can’t you just imagine the hope and joy working on the project had at that time? Months later, Robert’s cancer was knocked out and the book was accepted for publication.

When Robert’s cancer returned, they were told his best chances for survival lay in new research and treatments. That’s when Grace hatched the idea to have children’s book illustrators create art snowflakes that would be auctioned, raising money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Institute. The kidlit community rallied and in their first year, they raised over $100,000. The program has grown since then, and is now administered by the Dana-Farber Institute.

This year the auctions feel more important than ever. Robert passed away in August. I think he was 35 years old.

You can read more about Robert’s Snow here, the auctions (with images of all the snowflakes!)here, and Grace Lin here. And if anyone would like to buy me a present, I’d love to have a snowflake!

Earlier this week, the Kidlit Blogosphere launched a sort of tour of Robert’s Snowflake illustrators. Different kidlit bloggers are spotlighting individual illustrators every day for I don’t know how long. The conductor of the this blogging orchestra is Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. They have created a schedule of which artists will be featured where. Because I’m late in posting about this, you can now go there and spend an evening clicking to different interviews.

If you do that, you’ll see all my favorite kidlit blogs, and you’ll understand why I have to adapt to Google Reader.