Today was my first reading ever of “My Crazy Baby Brother.” I went to Wagon Wheel, my old preschool here in Los Angeles, and read the book to five different groups of kids. Rodrigo held up pictures from the book and passed them around to the kids, and my parents were in the back cheering me on. I was very excited and very, very nervous. It didn’t help that the first group I read to was about thirty two year olds. It was sort of like reading to a pile of spaghetti. It was tough to stay focused on reading the story. They crawled all over each other and it seemed like they weren’t paying attention at all. However, when I finished the book and asked if they wanted me to read my next book, they all yelled “yes!” It got easier from there. By the third reading, I felt like myself. Still a little awkward, but definitely less nervous. These kids were about three, and there were only fifteen of them, so that was nice. They really listened to the stories and when I asked if they had any brothers or sisters one girl shouted out that her big sister was a dog. I read the book to the next group, and when I finished, one boy looked at me like I was crazy and said “so, read it again.” By the time I read to the last group I was really having fun. They were four and five years old and they understood everything. They “eewed” and laughed at all the parts that I wanted them to. They asked questions about my writing and drawing process and were very excited by the fact that I had made a book. They were very eager to tell me about their crazy baby siblings. One boy raised his hand and said “my name is Henry and my baby brother puts his head in the garbage.” I can’t wait to read to the next group of kids.