Since my kids were little, they've loved books. To be honest, this was less of an option in our home and more of an eventuality. Since my kids have been going to school, I've been writing messages to them on their food containers. Partly, this is because I was required to put their name on all items, and I get bored. I was also inspired by my wife, who likes to write them notes.
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and I was thrilled when he started writing books for children, as he did so just as my children were old enough to read them. One of my favorites is the warm and mysterious Instructions.
I love to come up with puzzles, solve puzzles, and watch others try to solve puzzles. Instructions was already a mysterious book by nature, so I decided to begin writing bits of the book on my kids' lunch items. I was curious to see how long it would take for them to realize which book it was. Instructions is very distinctive, so of course, they realized on the first day. Despite having figured out the puzzle, they wanted me to continue, so I did.
We're up to the tenth page, and there is plenty of time left in the school year. Though I never intended to write this entire book a page at a time onto their lunch, I should have time to transcribe the remainder of the book on cheese sticks, sandwich containers and bottles. We might even have time to do another short book before summer comes.
