“Books are uniquely 
portable magic.” 
Stephen King

My travels in San Francisco yesterday took me to the halls of Holy Name School on 40th Avenue in the Sunset District. This was a highly unusual excursion for me, as I attended Holy Name’s rival school, Saint Gabriel, for my elementary school years. I had never set foot inside the hallowed halls of Holy Name, though some of my best childhood friends went to school there. I checked into the main office to take care of the business that had brought me there. 

Unrelated to my primary purpose for visiting the campus, I had the pleasure of meeting Alice Seher, director of the Holy Name Preschool. She happened to stop by the office while I was there and we had a pleasant conversation. I told her about my book Cherries in the Summer. Since I had a copy of the book in my backpack, I gifted it to her, and offered to read it to her students if she would like me to do so. She accepted my invitation immediately.

There are two preschool groups at Holy Name School. I first met with the younger group, ages three and four. I sat in a chair in front of approximately 15 children and read the poem while displaying the amazing illustrations throughout the book. I let the children know that those illustrations were created by a 12-year-old sixth grade student from San José in 2021. 

The second group consisted of an equal number of four to five year olds. They, too, seemed to enjoy the story and the colorful illustrations. In the middle of the story, one little girl gently interrupted to inform me that her father had a hat just like mine! (A reminder to me of why I never felt called to teach that age group during my professional career.)

When I was leaving, Alice extended an invitation for me to return to Holy Name School again to read to the preschool students. I just might do that. As Stephen King said, “Books are uniquely portable magic.”