Have you ever wished you could meet a book character?

"I grew up in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, renowned as the place where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in On the Banks of Plum Creek, as well as the setting for the TV show Little House on the Prairie. My mom had gone to college in Mankato, knew that it had been fictionalized as Deep Valley in the Betsy-Tacy books, and suggested I give them a try. Little did she know that she would create a lifelong passion. Never, in my wildest dreams, would I have thought that one day I'd meet several of the real-life counterparts upon whom characters in the books were based, let alone correspond with their author. Betsy, Tacy and Tib - and Maud Hart Lovelace-have opened so many doors for me through the years. Without them, my life wouldn't have been this much fun!" ~ Kathleen Baxter