In praise of teamwork

I have never quite got my head around the concept of ‘light years’ – although I think it is a way of measuring enormous distances in such a way as to seem accessible. Thus an object which is 100 light years away is the distance which it would take light 100 years to travel. Given that light travels ‘at the speed of light’ that would be a very long way. The other day I met a (relatively) new dad who was still measuring the age of his infant son in days. At a point where most people would have switched from weeks to months, he was still counting in days. Somehow, it registered just how precious every day was in the presence of this little person.

Today, it is 1795 days since Littlest Star was written – at first scribbled on a bit of A4 paper, then typed up for me to read from, then made into a little booklet. You can find the details here. After that came the Slovak translation, the fuzzy felt depiction, the German translation, the radio appearances – and eventually the introduction to Lion Children’s. Today, the book goes on sale.

I have written extensively elsewhere about the story of the story. Today it is time simply to say ‘thank you’. I am grateful to every gifted hand and every generous spirit and every fine mind which has helped this story on the way. May it find its way to many a child’s heart this Christmas. Like the new dad -if I am counting in days, it is a way to remember how precious they are, and to marvel at how this little one has grown.