My daughter wrote a letter to her favorite author the other day. She has fallen in love with Chris Riddell‘s Ottoline books and wanted to tell him how much she appreciated them.
Dramatic pause.
Now, to say I am thrilled would be to say that that Stephen Harper might not like art that much. That is to say it would be an UNDERSTATEMENT of the biggest proportions. I brought the first book home for her from the library and she ate it up and demanded the next. We didn’t have it yet so I had to go out and buy it. Now I am forced to order the first in the series so she can have a pair and read nothing else, or so she says.
For all my years of avid reading, I have never once written to an author to say, “HI, just wanted to let you know that your book is awesome and changed the way I see the world.” Now why is that? Many books from authors that are not even close to dead have shaped who I am. Why haven’t I taken the time to write a little note and tell them this? I know I would want to know. I could even say that I am not expecting a response so that I don’t feel bad wasting their time. I could just write a couple of lines. A postcard even. You’re awesome. Just thought you should know. That sort of thing.
But no I don’t. Am I lazy? A little. Busy? A lot. Shy? yes. But so is my daughter. And she took the time to write a rough copy, get it corrected by her mother and then use the fancy writing paper to copy it out all nice. She wrote her address and asked for a preview chapter of the coming book. She sent a photo of herself because she thinks she looks like Ottoline (and she does). So what is my problem?
And another thing. She did this all on her own. No school involved. No parent pushing her (seriously). It was one of those revelation moments that trusting her with her own education is a smart thing to do. So there.
Lina Branter 
That’s absolutely the cutest thing EVER.All I’ve ever done is written a Canadian author via LibraryThing to say I loved her book (Lily and the paper man, about a young girl who befriends a homeless man).
Dear wire monkey mama, Have I ever told you how cool your daughter is? Okay, I think they are both really cool, but I want to give this particular daughter an extra squeezy hug.(Have you warned her about receiving form letters? I’m sure I’ve told you how my 9 year old self sent off a letter to Judy Blume and was consequently crushed by the horrible form letter, right? Ms. Cleary at least wrote a tiny handwritten bit on HER form letter….)Actually, that’s why I stopped sending letters to writers – form letters. I’d rather not get anything back at all than a bland template.