Jessica Israels

August 25, 2004

Dear Daniel,

I have been reading your books for 20 years now (ever since I stumbled upon ‘Alan Mendelssohn the Boy From Mars’ at the library) and I have enjoyed reading them again and again. I was so pleased when Fish Whistle came out and I learned that many of your ideas for characters and situations came from your own life.

I just listened to your interview on ‘Fresh Air’ from last month and I was curious about these ‘Classic Comics’. I wanted you to know they are available on eBay, assuming I found the right ones. I went ahead and bid on Number 1, The Three Musketeers: cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2264366690. Are these the comics you spoke of?

A big fan,

Jessica Israels

Of course, there is no saying that Fish Whistle (now available combined with another book as Hoboken Fish & Chicago Whistle) is not completely made up. Yes, those are the comics I spoke of (Classics Illustrated is the correct title for the series. Check this: http://ksacomics.com/ci/ci.htm. ). I have a bunch of them in reprints, including The Three Musketeers. The reprints are on good paper, somewhat smaller than the originals, and may still be available somewhere. I will check Ebay, and bid against you.