Thursday, April 17, 2008

Beyond Borders... and Beyond My Wildest Dreams

Just a little over a year ago, I was surprised to see my second book on the shelves of a bookstore. Khan: A Teacher of Everything, a book about a Pakistani community developer who won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, was launched in August 2007. I remember signing a book for a gentleman from the Pakistani Embassy, happy that he bought my story celebrating one of his country's modern heroes.

Today I received an email from Bookmark that caught me completely by surprise. They will be printing 100,000 copies of the book in English, Urdu and other Pakistani languages!!! WOW!!! That's 100,000 more children who will read about the story of Shoaib Sultan Khan! I can't even imagine how high a stack of 100,000 books are, and I also can't imagine seeing the story translated. I am thrilled beyond imagination - and I can't say thank you enough for yet another blessing. And with this unexpected dream comes a seed for another possibility: What if I were to fuse my love for travel and my passion for writing children's stories? Hmmm. Now there's an interesting idea... I'll keep you posted.

To the gentleman from the Pakistani Embassy: If you had anything to do with this wonderful surprise, I thank you from the bottom of my overwhelmed heart.

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