Tribute to Bridget Zinn

Upstart Crow Literary posted a tribute to Bridget Zinn, who died from cancer yesterday morning. Bridget Zinn was a Teen/YA librarian, blogger, and author, with her first novel, Poison, due to be published next summer by Disney/Hyperion.

I'd met Bridget at the second Kidlitosphere conference in Portland, Oregon. We found we had a mutual friend: a college friend of mine was her library school friend in Madison, Wisconsin. When friends started an auction to help pay for medical expenses, I donated a sunflower root child doll. I didn't know her beyond the Kidlitosphere conference and online connections, but I was glad to know that she had a wide circle of family and friends.

My wish for all of you is that you should have that kind of compassionate support that Bridget had, regardless of what you endure. I wish for you courage, strength, and grace.

Bridget Zinn Auction Closed

The auction for Bridget Zinn closed yesterday and raised over $2500.00. Way to go, Kidlitosphere! I'm just thrilled that the little sunflower root child doll I made brought in $50.00.

I didn't mention it at the time, but I had wanted to make something bigger and spendier for the auction but didn't have the time to do so, and wanted to get something in. The sunflower child happened to be what I had just completed when I contacted Jone about donating a doll to the auction. I'm thrilled that the doll went for over twice the valued amount. The high bidder is Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That. Congratulations, Adrienne! In addition to the Sunflower Root Child doll, the wee gift I promised is a basket akin to the ones that accompany the Strawberry and Blueberry children:



I believe there will be enough room in the basket to hold a few sunflower seeds.

Sunflower Root Child Doll for Auction

I was going to wait until later in the week to post about my dolls because I want to tell you about stories and songs too... however, I wrote about the auction for Bridget Zinn yesterday, and today my Sunflower Root Child Doll went up for auction on that site.





There are more photos on the site, so you can see the sunflower stems, leaves and ladybugs embroidered on the doll. When the time comes, I'll ship the doll out to the winning bidder along with a wee gift.

May 28 update: As of today, the bidding is up to $50.00. Wow! Thank you, generous bidders.

Auction for the Benefit of Blog Friend Bridget Zinn

Last September, I met a young woman named Bridget Zinn at the 2nd Annual Kidlitosphere Conference in Portland, Oregon. Bridget was not only a writer for teens and a blogger but a friend of my college friend ABCGirl from happy stuff. Whenever Bridget's name came up, everyone I talked to that weekend agreed that Bridget was the kind of person you instantly liked because of a certain something that went beyond her open, calm radiance and friendly nature.

It was a shock to all of us when we found out Bridget had stage 4 colon cancer, and it had spread to other parts of her body.

Amid all of the stress and strain of hospital visits, Bridget experienced a number of blessings: she signed on with an agent to represent her first Young Adult novel and she got married to her long-time boyfriend, Barrett.

Librarian and blogger Jone Rush MacCullough of DeoWriter writes more about Bridget here. Jone had organized the 2nd Kidlitosphere conference, and now she's organized an auction to help pay for Bridget's medical expenses. Bridget has already gone through one bout of chemotherapy, and is going to go through her next bout on May 8. A number of authors and bloggers have contributed items to the Bridget Zinn Auction. It runs through May.

I know there are many people struggling with cancer. Some of them have been friends. I have rejoiced when they became survivors. I want Bridget to be one of them, and that is why I am writing about her now.

May 3 update: My Sunflower Root Child doll can be found at the auction here.