Elijah gives The Yellow Paperclip a Name

Me: "Is the Yellow Paperclip a boy or a girl?"
Elijah: "Ummm... a boy?"
Me: "Does it have a name? What would you name the Yellow Paperclip?"
Elijah: "Ummm... Lorenzo!"

Elijah (pictured here with the book and his paperclip strand!) is the son of my mom's friend's niece. Let me say that again: Elijah is the son of Jenina, the niece of Tita Vicky, one of my mom's good friends from STC. Tita Vicky bought Elijah a copy of my book last year but he only started reading it the last few months.

Here's one of her text messages to me: Elijah enjoys my reading the book to him. Last night, while reading, he made sure his paperclip strand was on the bed too. Bet you I will be reading it again tonight. Soon after she sent that message, she sent this nice surprise through snailmail:


The attached Post-It reads: Hi Nikki! Here's Elijah's Thank You drawing for you (on recycled paper, sorry!) for writing the book! Love, Tita Vicky.

I visited Elijah this afternoon to thank him for his drawing and to give him a couple of paperclips to add to his paperclip strand. He's one cool kid. He practically memorized the story. He showed off his paperclip strand. He said his drawing is a picture of the Grim Reaper (but I forget why though!). He believes the Yellow Paperclip is a boy named Lorenzo.

I'll definitely include Elijah in my group of "Work Content Experts" when I brainstorm for my next story. Hee-hee.