My name is Lena Coakley and I love children's books. People often ask me why, and then I find myself fumbling around for an answer. It's not that I don't know. It's just that people don't realize what a deeply personal question that is. Usually I say that I have never been able to sink so completely into a book as I did when I was ten years old. If you want a longer answer, check out the speech I gave at the launch of my first children's book, On the Night of the Comet.