As if caramel biscotti and tall skinny cinnamon dolces aren’t enough joy, Starbucks is now giving away free books to download to your Mac or PC. Those cool little cards near the register that give away music? Welp, they now offer apps and books, too. Super + Awesome = Sawesome!

… And, for me, this was one of them: February 25, 2012. At 4:25AM, my family welcomed our new son into the world. Welcome, Baby Maakestad! (See? I had a good reason for my absence!) Next week, I will continue blogging. For now, I’ll enjoy the time with my family. Thanks for all the well wishes and support we’ve received so far. I miss all my writing and illustrating friends, and I look forward to getting back on the horse!

The Penguin Group/Pearson Foundation’s We Give Books initiative has a new campaign: read books online for free, and they’ll donate books to your school of choice. Over 98,000 books have been read to date, with a maximum of 150,000 available. To join, check out the We Give Books website.