Congratulations Derek

 From the Biography of my former student:

Derek Anderson drew the very first picture he can ever remember drawing when he was in kindergarten. It was a picture of the Easter Bunny. When he finished it, he gave it to the principal of his school who hung it on the wall of his office for the rest of the school year. Derek's fate was sealed. From then on, he knew he would be an artist..."

The principal of the school was Tom Berhow and he was one of the best principals I ever worked with.  It is no wonder that he inspired Derek.  When Derek was in my class I called him Crane (Crane/Derek  get it??)  He dubbed me "Birdie" for Jay Bird.  I have followed his work ever since.  Today on Facebook he announced that Hot Rod Hamster which he illustrated won the 2012 South Carolina Picture Book Award

You can read about the award at Derek's Web Site here.  Derek comes from a talented family.  His brother David works as a silversmith at Ames Silversmith.  I enjoy going in there because Scott Sorem (another of my former students) is also employed there as well as Justine Marshek who is the daughter of a former colleague so I feel like it is a chance to catch up on things.  Oh and Derek and Dave's mom worked as my teacher's assistant and went back to school and became a great teacher who worked with me at Edward's school.

Enough of the connections.  I just want to say congratulations to Derek.  I still enjoy the picture books he has done.  Last Year I got his book Story County Here We Come, which was written and illustrated by Derek.