Googily!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this post.  The fact that I'm typing this up means that it all came to fruition in a wonderful way.

I have two little boys, aged 3 1/2 and 1 1/2.  They are avid readers (or being read-to-ers, I suppose) and one of their very favourite books is "Jumpy Jack and Googily" by Meg Rosoff.

I don't want to go on a big gush-fest about Meg Rosoff and her books, but let me just say that when people ask the "who would you most like to have dinner with in the whole, wide world?" question, she is my answer.

I love all her books but as you can imagine, the picture books are a big deal in our house at this stage of the game.

With this in mind, I emarked on a crazy project of making Googily for my boys for Christmas.  I went into this never having made a soft toy before and just winging it. (Googily is the blue monster... so you know).

I would love to make Jumpy Jack too, at some point, but the construction of a snail is a bit daunting to me.

I worked quite a while on Googily and all his parts.  He turned out looking very much like his 2-D self:

My absolute favourite part is his hat, which is attached with a hidden magnet.  I would have gone crazy for that little hat when I was 3! 

The really, really, REALLY great part about making, and finishing, him, (in addition to actually giving him to my kids on Christmas morning) is that this gave me an excuse to write Ms. Rosoff.

I couldn't find a direct email, so I wrote her literary agent and crossed my fingers.  Amazingly she received my note quickly and had written back within the day.  Sigh!  I knew she would be just that cool.  She loved the doll and wants to see pictures of the unveiling on Christmas morn! 

I am so happy with this whole process.  I am pleased that my hard work turned out looking so much like the real Googily and that I got to exchange emails with his creator.  I'm smiling just thinking about it.

Now, I sure hope my boys like him!  I'm sure they will. 

Thanks for reading my tale of Googily-joy.