James Howe: Hello. My name is James Howe. Not Howey, but Howe, like the question. I was told that one of my older brothers was given the privilege of choosing my first name. Happily he chose James, a name I've have always liked. When I was young, I was called Jimmy. By the time I got to high school, I preferred Jim, and that's still what my friends call me.

Even though I've always liked my name, I played around with it some when I was younger. For example, I wanted to change my middle name, Donald, to Schubert for a brief time when I was about 10, because I had managed to master a simple rendition of a Schubert piano piece and decided he was my favorite composer.

One thing I never considered about my name was how many times I would be writing it once I became an author. It's not as short as Avi, but it is a short name, and for that, I'm grateful each time I sign a book James Howe.