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Some days of my childhood are so etched into my memory, they feel as if they happened yesterday. One of the happiest, most carefree days was the inspiration to this book, Stories from Bug Garden. I was on a Girl Scout trip, and our leader took us to her acreage for a day of playing and exploring. There was this little stream that cut through a meadow, and I remember falling in love with it. I spent the entire sun-drenched afternoon playing by that stream, building villages and dams, digging pools and moats, and inventing all sorts of stories. I felt free and happy in that imaginary world that I created. That day was one of those gifts from God that I will always cherish.

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I, also, remember hot, slow, dreamy Iowa summer days where I laid in the grass and studied whatever was happening around me. I I would watch a parade of ants marching a piece of bread back to their colony. I would spy ladybugs on stems of grass and try to count their spots before they flew away. But the best bug memories of all happened at my school, Pence Elementary. My family would walk to the school at dusk and sit on the playground field, waiting. And then, one small glimmer would appear. Then another. Before long, the whole field was lit up with lightning bugs. My sister, Sindy, and I would catch them in our hands and marvel at their brilliant lights. We’d let them go and have another glorious chase.

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Stories from Bug Garden is a tribute to all of those childhood memories. It’s a salute to playing outside, creating imaginary worlds and then coming home. Home is where the porch light glows brightly, beckoning us in. Home is where love lives.