Jason T. Eness-Potter

Dear Mr. Pinkwater, I have been a grateful recipient of your gifts for 3 decades now. It was in 1986 that my elementary school librarian recommended I read Lizard Music one Danial Manus Pinkwater. It was a unique moment in that it was the only time my librarian ever recommended a book to me. She said she thought it was the kind of book I would like and she was right. I loved that book and everything I ever read (or listened to) of yours after that. Now this is the part that is difficult to communicate in a way that I feel does justice to the flowing gratitude I feel for what you gave me, and, I imagine, many young, thoughtful kids like I was then, but I'll do my best–when I think back to that self-esteem gauntlet that is adolescence, I realize your books had a major role in giving me the rational perspective I needed to survive that time in my life. I've always wanted to tell you how grateful I am to you for all your brilliant, understanding and playful work. I remember in the author bio on the back flap of Lizard Music, it said something about (and I am paraphrasing a bunch on this one) how you believed creative ability was a gift from God. That is something that affected a skinny 12 year old boy from Iowa in ways that are hard to articulate in a digital message like this, but I tell you, I am grateful that you passed your gift from God on to me. You make this world a better place by being here, Mr. Pinkwater, and I thank you and thank you again. ( And sorta P.S. My daughter loves your writing and storytelling and humor also! She is 7 now and has been a fan of Larry and the 2 bad bears since she was 2.)