Cheryl B. Klein: Hello, my name is Cheryl Klein and I am the author of A Year of Everyday Wonders. The idea came from my own brain even more than it's true usually just because it's been a habit of my brain to try to notice when things are firsts or when things are unique. I would wake up on January 1st and I would say, "This is my first breakfast that I'm going to have. How can I make it special, my first breakfast of this new year?" Later as the year goes on I'd be like, "Oh, it's my first time taking my winter sheets off the bed and putting my spring sheets on the bed," or, "my first ice cream cone of the year," or something like that.

And I just started noticing all these firsts and I realized that they could make a pretty neat book as you match them up with sort of the cycle of a year passing. So I sat down and I made a list of a bunch of different firsts that might happen in the course of the life of a child. And then I arranged them into a book. When I wrote the text, I didn't specify the age of the main character. I didn't specify what their family looked like or where they lived or anything like that. Although I did say that they lived in a place where they have sparklers in the summer and they have snow in the winter and they celebrate Valentine's Day. So it was probably here in the United States.

But other than that, it could have been anywhere in the world. And I did that because I wanted to leave room for the illustrator to make up their own world. When I gave the news to my editor, she found an illustrator and said, "I think this person would be great." And I said, "Yes, I think so, too," because this illustrator, Qin Leng, is so good at capturing all the little tiny domestic details and moments that happen, especially for kids. She took the text and she made up this whole world with this girl, gave her an older brother, made the family biracial. I was just delighted by everything that she did. So the text was designed for her to create moments within the text.

I hope kids might use this book as a jumping off point to think about the firsts and the occasions and the little moments in their own lives. It can be kind of a joyful practice to think about what is the first time I'm doing this this year, or is this the first time I'm doing something in my entire life. And to recognize that and be like, "You know what? I have never been able to climb up a tall ladder before, and this is the first time I'm going up so high. And I'm really proud of myself. This is going to be a cool thing for the rest of my life." So I hope that it could be a opportunity for people to think about their own firsts and wonder.

And now I'm going to share a little bit of my book, A Year of Everyday Wonders, illustrated by Qin Leng. The text begins:

First day of the new year. First wake-up. First waffles. First fight with your brother. First snowfall. First snowballs. First hot chocolate. First stories. First valentine. First cold. First crush. First new umbrella. First lost umbrella. First green in the gray.