On bimulous nights when the sky is like lace...

When Tootie was born, a woman in our newsroom gave me a copy of this book, telling me how much she loved it as a little girl and she hoped Amanda would too.

I'm the one who fell in love with it -- OK, well, Tootie likes it a lot too, but I can tell she's humoring me when I ask to read it every single night -- not only because it's magical and fanciful, but because it reminds me of the many books written by L.M. Montgomery.

I loved and still love Lucy.

As a child, hell, even in my teens, I read and re-read her books until they were torn and tattered. In my mid- to late 20s, while living in Odessa, Texas, I re-entered my L.M. Montgomery phase and bought still more of her books. (The Blue Castle and A Tangled Web)

Those Japanese schoolgirls longing to get married on Prince Edward Island. I so get that.

I mean, it's PEI, where Anne lived.

So I guess what I'm saying is that if I ever have a third child, and it's a girl, and her name is something like "Valancy Rose" -- well, you'll understand why.