Angela’s Airplane was one of the original daycare stories I told in Coos Bay, Oregon.
I told it because a kid that I knew in town actually got a ride in an airplane.
While we were in the daycare centre we were listening to the radio and the announcer said that a little girl named Candy was having a ride as part of an air show. Candy was a friend of mine so immediately I made up a story about her.
The kids really liked it and I kept telling it and telling it.
When it finally came time to get in made into a book I changed the girl’s name to Angela so that it would be Angela’s Airplane. The publisher liked the name Angela better than Candy.
I wish now I had kept the name as Candy.
My rule now is that when I make up a story about a kid, that kid’s name gets used in the book. So Moira and Meghan and Elizabeth and Jule Ann and Andrew and Tyya are all real kids.
I wish Angela’s Airplane wasn’t called Angela’s Airplane – I wish it was called Candy’s Airplane.
I did dedicate it to Candy though. If you look in the front of the book it will say, “To Candy”.
