“Um. . . Do you give autographs?”
I had just finished my Golden Tales of California storytelling program. The fourth-grade students were lined up to return to their classrooms when one boy slipped out of line to ask me that question.
“Yes, if it’s all right with your teacher.”
“I’ll get a paper and come back,” he told me. And he did. He returned with three pieces of paper—one for himself and two for his friends.
I signed my first autograph. He thanked me and turned to go. But he had one more question.
“Um. . . . Is this autograph valuable?
“Not yet.”
I smiled as he hurried away.
In the years since then I have signed autographs on pieces of paper, storytelling programs and on the title page of my middle-grade novels. I know that those signatures have no monetary value, but they are valuable to me. Each time I sign an autograph it is an affirmation that I have given something of value—a storytelling performance or the words in a book. I have made a small difference in someone’s life and they want my autograph. Yes, my autograph is valuable.