Christmas in Stereo: House of Dance and the Taysha List

Nothing would interfere with our collecting our son—we drove miles, we drove them quickly, and then we parked. He was waiting for us in the bitter cold, and when we saw him, we began to run. He's that kind of soul, that kind of beautiful, and he was joyful; five finals were done. Over dinner we talked and after dinner we drove, and it was very late and dark. Beyond us, the snowy valleys were filled with candy cane lights and rooftop reindeer, with pinpoints of white and blue, of blinking green. It's Christmas, I thought, a complete thought now that our son was near, with us.

Seven corporate projects have come in over the past few days—months of work to be completed in a few weeks' time. I was on my computer late, to take care of a few things, when I noticed a comment on my blog. I will repeat it here for history's sake—an extraordinary gift to me at Christmas:

Dear Ms. Kephart-
It is my pleasure to inform you that your book, House of Dance, was selected to be on the 2010 Tayshas High School Reading List. The Tayshas reading list highlights the best fiction and non-fiction books for Texas teens. It is one of the most respected state reading lists in the country and generates millions of dollars of sales throughout the United States for the books selected to be on the list.
If you would like to see which other books were selected for the 2010 Tayshas High School Reading List please follow the link below.
http://www.txla.org/groups/yart/tayshaslists.html

Congratulations and thank you so much for writing such a quality young adult book.

I'm not sure who to thank for this. Renee, if you are reading: thank you.