Feedback... Hey, it's actually Friday!
I know I promised elizabethhelena that I would write a fan letter to Daisy Duke AKA Catherine Bach, but this past week I was inspired to write to a completely different person.
Dear Mr. Gaiman,
I want to say thank you for “The Graveyard Book”. Your novel has given me one of my happiest moments as a parent.
My 11yo son, (blank), has never had any interest in reading novels. He can read well, if slowly, and I’ve never been able to tell whether his strong preference for gaming magazines, comic books, and “How to Survive Zombie Invasion” manuals was a function of his diagnosed learning disability or simply a personal quirk.
I bought “The Graveyard Book” for myself to read on a family trip. While we were on the plane, I offered my book to my son. I’ve done this frequently, though never with any success before now. After flipping through the first few pages of my book, my son would inevitably decide that he was better off staring out the window.
This time, however, he continued reading! Not only that, but he read in our hotel room and in the rental car. He even read at his great grandmother’s house, with all the cousins around. He finished “The Graveyard Book” over the course of five very focused and determined days. I almost didn’t get a chance to read it myself, as he had it in his possession the entire trip. I had to steal it from his pillow while he was sleeping.
When we got home he took his own money and went to the bookstore. He bought Coraline, read it, and then lent it to a classmate. (And actually, I’m a bit ticked about that as I’d already asked him if I could read it when he was done.)
Then last night I offered to put on a National Geographic documentary for him. He skipped over Ghosts and Big Foot and Aliens, and specifically asked if he could watch one on the Da Vinci Code. And when the show was over he went and got the book off the shelf, and started reading it!
Now, I found the Da Vinci Code boring (and possibly inappropriate for 11yos), so I also gave him my copy of Good Omens. He was delighted. He’s taken Good Omens to school this morning, to read on the bus.
Thank you! I’ve been a fan of yours since before you autographed my copy of “Season of Mists” back in 1992, and I’m thrilled to see my son enjoying your books now, too.
Yours sincerely,
Etc...
For the record, I don't write many fan letters outside the internet. I've had bad experiences with them. The first one I ever sent resulted in a (very kind) letter back from the deceased author's estate. True, Robert A. Heinlein had been dead for almost two years, but I didn't know that. It was a bit of a shock, so I was quite careful to make sure the next author I wrote to was still alive before I sent my letter.
Unfortunately, Lucy M. Boston died a week later. Which as she was nearly a hundred shouldn't have been a surprise, but still I began to wonder if I was somehow wielding death with a pen. I mulled over the possibility of sending a letter to Isaac Asimov, but decided I'd better not. He was old too, and I didn't want to take the chance that if I wrote to him he'd keel over on the spot (he lasted two years past Ms. Boston, as it turns out).
So, if something unfortunate happens to Mr. Gaiman in the next couple of weeks (he is happily young and healthy, as far as I know), I solemnly swear I will never write another snail-mail letter to anyone ever again.
;-)
Rebel
Dear Mr. Gaiman,
I want to say thank you for “The Graveyard Book”. Your novel has given me one of my happiest moments as a parent.
My 11yo son, (blank), has never had any interest in reading novels. He can read well, if slowly, and I’ve never been able to tell whether his strong preference for gaming magazines, comic books, and “How to Survive Zombie Invasion” manuals was a function of his diagnosed learning disability or simply a personal quirk.
I bought “The Graveyard Book” for myself to read on a family trip. While we were on the plane, I offered my book to my son. I’ve done this frequently, though never with any success before now. After flipping through the first few pages of my book, my son would inevitably decide that he was better off staring out the window.
This time, however, he continued reading! Not only that, but he read in our hotel room and in the rental car. He even read at his great grandmother’s house, with all the cousins around. He finished “The Graveyard Book” over the course of five very focused and determined days. I almost didn’t get a chance to read it myself, as he had it in his possession the entire trip. I had to steal it from his pillow while he was sleeping.
When we got home he took his own money and went to the bookstore. He bought Coraline, read it, and then lent it to a classmate. (And actually, I’m a bit ticked about that as I’d already asked him if I could read it when he was done.)
Then last night I offered to put on a National Geographic documentary for him. He skipped over Ghosts and Big Foot and Aliens, and specifically asked if he could watch one on the Da Vinci Code. And when the show was over he went and got the book off the shelf, and started reading it!
Now, I found the Da Vinci Code boring (and possibly inappropriate for 11yos), so I also gave him my copy of Good Omens. He was delighted. He’s taken Good Omens to school this morning, to read on the bus.
Thank you! I’ve been a fan of yours since before you autographed my copy of “Season of Mists” back in 1992, and I’m thrilled to see my son enjoying your books now, too.
Yours sincerely,
Etc...
For the record, I don't write many fan letters outside the internet. I've had bad experiences with them. The first one I ever sent resulted in a (very kind) letter back from the deceased author's estate. True, Robert A. Heinlein had been dead for almost two years, but I didn't know that. It was a bit of a shock, so I was quite careful to make sure the next author I wrote to was still alive before I sent my letter.
Unfortunately, Lucy M. Boston died a week later. Which as she was nearly a hundred shouldn't have been a surprise, but still I began to wonder if I was somehow wielding death with a pen. I mulled over the possibility of sending a letter to Isaac Asimov, but decided I'd better not. He was old too, and I didn't want to take the chance that if I wrote to him he'd keel over on the spot (he lasted two years past Ms. Boston, as it turns out).
So, if something unfortunate happens to Mr. Gaiman in the next couple of weeks (he is happily young and healthy, as far as I know), I solemnly swear I will never write another snail-mail letter to anyone ever again.
;-)
Rebel