TB, who is in second grade, wrote his first novel yesterday. With names changed, and sans the distinctive illustrations, an annotated guide to the text:

Title Page: TB and TG and a Walk in the Woods (with illustration) by TB

(on the side, there's a diagonal stripe that says "New Series!")

Contents Page: Woodsy...Page 1 Home!...Page 4

First Text Page: "Chapter 1...Woodsy!" (picture of two stick figures walking hand-in-hand near a forest) "One fine day me and my sister were playing when we noticed that we were lost. We were near the woods and we went in. It was very dark and scary but we were with each other."

(I'm not sure that the first move, upon discovering that you're lost, should be to go into the woods. Still, it's sweet that they took comfort in each other.)

Page Two: "Oh no! We were lost!" (pictures of stick figures with big eyes and 'O' mouths)

(The liberal use of empty space on this page nicely complements the plot, I think)

Page Three: "We walked through the woods and thought we saw a house!" (picture of stick figures, TB with his hand shielding his eyes from the sun.)

Page Four: (Chapter heading: Home!) "It was our Grandma's house! We were back with them!"

(Picture of stick figures raising arms in triumph, yelling "yay!")

Page Five: "The End"

(Chapter two was a bit short, but that's okay.)

Page Six: "Other TB Books" "Bball – Bball is my favorite sport!" (picture of TB dunking) "Soccer! -- I'm a soccer player! Will we win or not?" (picture of TB scoring a goal)

(Clearly, TB has the marketing gene. He gets that from his mother. I like that he has already planned the next two installments in the New Series.)

Back Cover: "TB Books are Great! -- Booklist"

(He blurbed himself! That's my boy!)

Be on the lookout for the next installment in the series...