There was an author at WWKIP Day

yesterday. For the uninitiated among you WWKIP is WorldWide Knit in Public Day - locally - an important event on the knitters' calendar.
I do not doubt that WWKIP Day is a much friendlier event in the northern hemisphere. At this time of the year it tends to be warmer rather than cooler in Upover. Here in Downunder it can be quite chilly. We were sitting outside the bookshop yesterday. Normally we sit cosily inside the shop and people look in on us a bit as if we are animals in the zoo. At least we were undercover. I had wondered how to add some interest to the event this year and, being outside a bookshop, managed to add - an author.
The author was Janeen Brian and she brought Lambert, a toy lamb who appears in "Shirl and the Wollomby Show" (Scholastic). Janeen had been at the bookshop the previous Saturday to promote her book but agreed to come again. We knitted. Janeen knitted and, in between rows of Lambert's scarf, signed books.
"Shirl and the Wollomby Show" is a picture book. It is intended for small children. Small children do not normally buy books. The adults in their lives buy books for them.
There was one small boy who came past with his mother. They stopped to look. He was fascinated by the knitting going on - and puzzled by the concept that the author was there with the book she had written. His mother bought a copy and Janeen signed it, printing the message in it carefully before signing her name. He thanked her politely and went away clutching it. He looked pleased in a rather solemn and bewildered way.
We had all been watching, while trying not to look as if we were watching. When he had gone there was general agreement that he had been "a nice little boy" and "a bit quiet".
I rather suspect though that he had been working out a very big idea. Books do not just appear. Somebody has to make them.