1. Jane's only field trip during elementary school takes place in first grade, when her class walks to Hosmer Library to apply for library cards.

2. When eye drops are administered to Jane at age nine, her vision blurs. Against doctor's orders, she keeps reading and finishes The Boxcar Children through the fog.

3. Jane envies the children who stand next to Laura Ingalls Wilder in a photo taken at Brown's Book Store in Springfield, Missouri. An ardent fan of Laura's, Jane first sees this photo while a student in Sister Lucien's third-grade classroom.

4. While in grade school, Jane sends a fan letter to one of her favorite authors, Albert Payson Terhune (Lad: A Dog). The author's widow pens a kind letter to Jane in reply.

5. Jane's dog, Max, chews up her copy of Lad: A Dog. The school librarian finds this an unlikely explanation for the damage.

6. As an eighth grader, Jane wins second place in an archdiocesan writing competition on the topic, "What I Will Do with My Religious Vocation."

7. Jane writes a story called "A Nice Dog" during her sophomore year of high school. Her teacher comments at the top of Page 1, "You have talent."

8. Jane's writing sample, an essay on Sinclair Lewis, does not win her a position on the high school magazine staff.

9. In her junior year of English, Jane's carefully constructed book jacket earns a "C" due to this spelling on the cover: Mobey Dick. (The correct spelling: Moby.)

10. Jane's mother insists that Jane take a typing class so that she can type her own college papers. Jane breaks her collarbone in a tobogganing accident before she learns the number keys. back