PO Box 3413 Wellington 6015 New Zealand
12 December 2001
Dear Friends,
Thank you. Thank you, for your comments on the Feedback page. I appreciate the time and thought you put into your remarks. It makes a difference to know that you are real people out there. Writing can be a lonely job and for most writers, readers are represented by the number of books sold. It is difficult to have a friendship with numbers on a piece of paper. Real people brighten the day and warm the heart. Remember, if you have questions that can't be answered by the website, or if you need personal contact, e-mail the web master and you will be given my address so that you can write by post. I promise to write back, although, if I am out of the country, there may be a little delay. The happy news is that our youngest cat Grace had six kittens late October. Four are orange and white, one is cream with black spots and stripes, the other, black. Three girls and three boys! They are all with their mother in a basket in my office and now they are at the exploring stage. They tip over my trash basket and play four paw football with the paper that has spilled out. They scamper under my desk, do jumps on my feet and sometimes try to climb a leg of my jeans. They are now fully toilet trained and use their kitty litter tray, which is a great relief. Before that, I used to tread in little wet or worse patches. A bucket and a mop were part of my office furniture. We are keeping the two smallest kittens who have the biggest purrs. They are fluffy orange and white girls called Phoebe and Rose and when we touch them, there little motors start humming like racing cars. The other kittens are going to good and loving homes when they are a little older. With Phoebe and Rose, we will have ten cats! We only intended to have two. I wonder how that happened? Terry has taken some nice pictures of the kittens.

We are almost at the end of a mixed year. Some very sad things have happened in the world, but brave and beautiful things have happened also. The year for me has been filled with writing and wonderful people. I've met great teachers, fantastic young folk, and have made lots of new friends. I've also met up with many old friends in my travels. In between those social times, I've been in my office with the new computer, making journeys into story land. Shall I tell you a little about new books? For schools, there are 30 chapter books for grades 2, 3 and 4, written for Dominie Press, California. There has also been a new Greedy Cat book illustrated by Robyn Belton, published by Learning Media in New Zealand, and Celebration Press in America. It's called "Greedy Cat's Door." There have been some bigger picture books. Boyds Mills in Pennsylvania, published "Mrs Goodstory" and Scholastic, New Zealand, published "Pudding," "Brodie" and "Eating Plums in Bed." Philomel, New York, published "Agapanthus Hum and Major Bark." Let me tell you a bit about Agapanthus Hum. She is a happy and very active little girl who has to wear eye glasses. My daughter Judith was like Agapanthus. Judith could never keep her glasses on. Sometimes they hung on one ear, sometimes they dropped into her porridge, sometimes she sat on them and twice they were run over by the lawnmower. "Oops!" Judith would say. But stories don't begin with just one idea. Often there are several. People like you and Judith have loving, caring parents. But there are some children who miss out. I wanted to make Agapanthus Hum's parents a gift for children who feel lonely and sad. Her parents are called good little Mommy and good little Daddy. Why did I call them that? Well, this is where another idea crept in. C an you remember when you were very young and big people who used to say, "Have you been a good little girl?" or "Have you been a good little boy?" I'll bet those big people never said to your mother or father, "Have you been a good little parent?" That's how good little Mommy and good little Daddy came into being, and no matter what happens, they give Agapanthus total love and support. Believe me, things do happen. Agapanthus is one of those children whose life is full of adventure. In "Agapanthus Hum and the Eye Glasses" Agapanthus has to solve the problem of wearing eyeglasses and being an acrobat. Now we have "Agapanthus Hum and Major Bark. " Yes, you've guessed it. Major Bark is a puppy with a tail like electric string. He's a "bitser", a bit of this, a bit of that, and Agapanthus wants to take him to the dog show. Now, Jennifer Plecas the wonderful illustrator of the Agapanthus books, has almost finished "Agapanthus and the Angel Hoot" which will come out next year. I have just finished writing "Froghopper" a 27,000 word junior fiction story about a family on a boat. That means I can spend some time over the holidays going fishing with Terry, working in the garden, playing with grandchildren, cuddling the kittens and eating home made ice cream. Have a very happy holiday. With much love, Joy Cowley PS: The fans of Mrs Wishy-Washy might be interested to know that at last, Mrs Wishy-Washy is getting a full length picture book called "Wishy-Washy Farm.". Elizabeth Fuller is working on the illustrations right now and the book is being designed by Patricia Lee Gauch of Philomel. Do you want to know what it's about? It's a rhyming book about the time those naughty animals ran away from home!

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