Letter to Mrs. Horn's Class

Drawing by Leslie

Dear Mrs. Horn and the children at Galveston Elementary,

I loved receiving your letters. Thank you for all the artwork you made of Grandma Beettle and Señor Calavera. I must tell you, children, your drawings rock!
I was also happy to hear that my books made you laugh and that you put together a play where you got to act out the story of Grandma Beetle and Señor Calvera. I am sure I would have laugh seeing your play.
Some of you also had some questions for me. Here I am going to try to respond to most of them:

How did you become and artist?
I became an artist by learning and practicing doing art. I had to teach my hands how to make thins like drawing and painting, and I had to practice a lot because at first all my attempts at doing drawings were very bad. Has that ever happened to you?

When you were little were you an artist?
I believe that I was an artist when I was little.My mother has some drawings I made since when I was two-years old. Except, guess what? Those drawings weren't very good at all! They were mostly doodles and lots of scribbles. But since I have been doing it for so long now, I am kind of good now. Here is a page from a note book with drawings I made when I was about 4-years old (the pencil drawing of the face at the top-middle is not mine. My mother drew that):


How old are you?
I was born in the month of November, the year 1968. Can you tell how old am I?

Do you have a dog?
I have two dogs. One loves to eat; his name is Chacho. Then we have Luna; she is the best jumper I have even seen and she like toys. Here is a picture of Luna:

Opps, wait, that is not a good picture. Here is a more acurate one of Chacho and Luna:


Do you like playing catch?
I like playing catch, but i am not very good at it. It seems like I have to practice more. However my son, who is 16-years old, is super good at catching balls, but even better is my dog Luna.

How old were you when you made your first book?
The first book I made was published in the year 2003. Can you tell how old I was?


My favorite book is Just a Minute. What is your favorite book?
It is hard to choose just one. I love all of my books because they were fun to make and they are about the things I like the most like birthday parties, piñatas, food, children, and sometimes ghosts.

Are you married?
Yes, I am married to a very tall and skinny guy who likes music very much. His name is Tim. He is not Señor Calavera!

Drawing by Cinthia

Señor Calavera is not scary to me. Is it to you?
I am not scared of Señor calavera, actually I think he is kind of cute and I like it that he is very good at finding presents.

Do you think I rote a lot?
I think you wrote just the right amount. You most be a writer!

Will you write me back?
Always!

Drawing by Aaron

By the Way, Ericka, I think that "When I Fell Off My Bike" is a great title for a story.
Everybody keep writing your stories. Thank you again for your letters.

Sincerely yours,
Yuyi Morales

A child again

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Fuse #8, reviewing Miss Betsy Bird’s long awaited ALA Mid-Winter 2008 Recap, looking at the pictures, smiling at her abilities to Photoshop three huge medals onto the cover of Elijah of Buxton (by the way, Miss Betsy, the only planning that can happen when creating book covers is bad planning, because doing otherwise—planning for future placement of awards—is well known among the book publishing industry to conjure jinxing) when I found myself transported to my childhood.
I mean, doesn’t every child dream at least once, to someday be called (by an adult) something wonderful and enigmatic like “one of the most talented artists living today”? Wow! My childhood dream has become true!