Therea Maier

May 8, 2005

thank you. my son discovered the joys of reading through (okay first there was captain underpants but we are all only 6 for a year) your books, and both my children are learning to write through your books.

Kellan is 8, and we read your books together most nights. my daughter in the next room follows along. your books are so much fun, we read long and my voice started to give out, so my son offered to take turns reading chapters aloud with me. one early morning, i came near the door to his room and stopped when i realized he was awake. i heard the sound of a page turn. peering in, i saw him on his belly, reading the book himself. now we have to trade the books around to keep up with each other.

my 12 year old daughter Shannon started writing a novel. she determined it was to be 232 pages. she stopped after three chapters because she couldn’t get it to go where she wanted it to go. she started a new novel with her brother: “writing like daniel pinkwater.”

you are a wonderful teacher for them. your writing causes them to laugh out loud. wants them to say words out loud just to hear the sound. wants them to write each night a few paragraphs that their mother thinks tell a great story. they select details that are telling, their names are bombastic, and they learn to write freely without care for anything but to move the story forward. and then, after they read me their new installation, they will let me edit with them, caring about spelling, grammar, syntax. they are learning to write.

the skills their teachers work so hard to give them has meaning.

nice gift. we thank you.

Nice email. I thank you. Make sure they see The Artsy Smartsy Club, which will be published Tuesday. You may tell them from me that writing and painting are just the same.