Meet Prisara from Chicago. She’s terrific and she likes the color green! And who could blame her?
I replied:
Dear . . . um, hmmmm.
Wait, hold on. I’m trying to make out the name. Maybe if you wrote it out REALLY BIG and used RAINBOW COLORS it would have been easier for me to . . .
Wait, hold on.
You did!
Prisara! What a beautiful name. I love an illustrated letter. Thank you for calling The Case of the Ghostwriter your favorite book. There’s a true part in that book. My brother Neal died long ago, and in real life I gave his name to my oldest son, Nicholas Neal Preller. So that scene with Jigsaw and his father, talking things over? That came right from my heart. For the book, I changed the name to Andrew, but the emotion is true. It’s hard to lose the people you love.
When I started working on the Jigsaw Jones books, I observed a second-grade classroom taught by a teacher named Jen Goeke. She was kind and smart and really loved her students. I modeled Ms. Gleason after her. (Did you notice that? Again, I changed the name but kept the essence.)
Please thank your teacher for keeping my books in the classroom. All of them are impossible to get these days. Out of print. But the good news is that I just wrote a new book, The Case from Outer Space, coming out this August. In addition, eight classic titles will also be available once again. Jigsaw Jones is making a comeback!
I loved your sweet letter. I’m lucky to have you as a reader. I haven’t seen your favorite movie, “Sing,” but I’ll add it to my list of things to do.
Also: I totally agree about GREEN. And thanks for the self-addressed, stamped envelope. Very considerate!
My best,
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