James Preller's Blog

I’m sure that any reasonable reader of “Fan Mail Wednesday” will remember Jack from Golden, CO. I answered his letter last week. Well, here’s a nice follow-up note:

Dear Mr. Preller,

Thanks for your awesome answers to my questions. I cleaned Mrs. Brink’s clock. 🙂  She couldn’t believe that my Mom and I had written you. I definitely scored LOTS of brownie points. THANKS!

I am enclosing a picture of me (on left) and my friend Carson in front of the report board.

Everyone loved hearing about DAY Z.

I told them my favorite book that you had written is The Case of the Snowboarding Superstar. I wish you would write a Jigsaw mystery in which Jigsaw is in Colorado skiing.

I had a couple of other questions for you.

1. Did you have a collection when you were in second grade?
I collect typewriters, cars, coins, and coffee grinders.

2. Did you have a pen pal when you were growing up?
I am thinking about getting one. The love of my life from preschool, Elise Dickenson, moved to San Francisco. She asked me to write her.

Thanks,
Jack

P.S. I’m sending the Colorado Academy newsletter to you…I am on the cover convincing my big buddy that Jigsaw Jones ROCKS!

P.P.S  My Mom thanks you to . . . She is going to ask the school to bring you to us for a visit.

I replied:

Jack,

Great photo. It looks like you put a lot of work into that report. That’s good news about the Brownie Points! It always helps to store those up — you never know when you might need to cash them in.

I guess I collected a few things when I was younger, baseball cards and nickels and, of course, Peruvian Wind Chimes. But doesn’t every boy?

Wait, hold on. Coffee grinders? You collect coffee grinders? And typewriters? Hmmm. You are certainly an interesting young fellow. No wonder why Elise Dickenson thought so highly of you. I mean, if you meet a guy who collects coffee grinders, well, you want to hold onto something like that. I think you should totally write to her. I wonder if she likes San Francisco? Maybe she’s even seen seals sunning themselves on the rocks. It’s a great city.

Be well, my friend. Keep reading those books! And be sure to thank your mother for helping out with the emails. It was awfully nice of her, don’t you think?

JP

P.S. Quick DAY-Z story. Wonderful dog, great with kids, not the sharpest tool in the shed. My wife and I were out walking with her, and I was trying to get DAY-Z to sit when we came to a corner. After all, she sits perfectly well at home when we give her a treat. Well, on this walk, it just wasn’t working. I could not get it through her head. “Sit,” I’d say. “DAY-Z . . . SIT!” Then I’d kind of push down her butt in a firm manner, saying, “Sit. Sit. Sit!”

Lisa said, “You know, I don’t think DAY-Z associates sitting with being outside on a walk. She associates it with getting treats in the kitchen.”

“The problem,” I told Lisa, “is she doesn’t associate SIT . . . with actually sitting.”

Ah, sigh. She’s a work in progress. Like most of us, I guess.

P.P.S. Please note that I am changing the name of “Fan Mail Wednesday” to “Jack from Golden, CO Wednesday.”