From: Marc Aronson <75664.3110>
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 09:37:12 -0500

I hope it is OK to respond to Ginee's questions a day late (wasn't here over the weekend). I met Gary when he was doing a presentation about the burial ground and I was fascinated. I asked him if he'd write a book, and he agreed to. But he had never written a book, nor anything at all for younger readers. He needed a co-author. I asked Jim Giblin to suggest someone, and he mentioned Joyce.
        I just learned this weekend when Joyce gave a talk that she did not intend to do the book. But, out of curiousity, she agreed to visit Gary at the lab. That visit, in which she learned about the woman burried with the string of 111 beads, is what convinced her to write it. I have to admit that, in sending her to see what I'd seen, I hoped to have exactly that effect.
        The cover was designed by an in-house designer. We originally had a different photo, but it looked too macabre. We wanted to get at death/the past/history, and the present, moving on, learning, being inspired. Chester Higgins, a photographer for the NYTimes had created that shot especially to show that dual message, and he agreed to let us use it.

Marc
Received on Mon 15 Mar 1999 08:37:12 AM CST