Archive for Fan Mail

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #331: “Maxx Trax” Remembered, 37 Years Later

December 1, 2023 / / No comments

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been randomly sharing samples of Fan Mail & my responses on this site since 2008. However, I haven’t posted as much Fan Mail the past couple of years, largely because I haven’t gotten as much. The pandemic shut it down — publishers don’t seem to forward mail the way they once did — and who knows. Maybe schools aren’t focusing on that kind of thing as much anymore. Everyone’s exhausted. Maybe it’s my own fading star. The ebbs and flows of a long career. I don’t know. 

But look at this: an email from a reader who remembers a beloved book that I published in 1986, my first book ever, Maxx Trax: Avalanche Rescue!

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Pretty amazing, huh? 

What a gift to receive such a message. 

 

Dear Mr. Preller,

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I was reading Maxx Trax to my daughter and decided to look you up.  I am happy to see that you continue to write children books.
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Thank you so very much.  Your book has been in my life since 1986.  When I chose it out of a school book fair.  You’ll have to thank the artist as to a kid the picture on the cover caught my eye.
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This book has traveled with me to Japan back to the US and again Japan.   I’m not military so that says something about the books importance while moving.
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My son has a special place on his shelf.
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I just wanted to let you know all these years later it is still one of my favorite books.
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Keep up the fantastic work.
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Jeremy
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I replied . . .
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Dear Jeremy,
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Wow, what a great letter. Thank you so much.
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The Irish have an expression, “Flowers for the living.”
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We don’t have to wait for someone to die before saying something nice to them.
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You did just that and I appreciate it.
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Yes, yes, yes, that was my first book, written at age 25 in 1986 and, I think, a story that stands up today. Long out of print, of course. I wrote a sequel but for insane reasons (money, I suppose), Scholastic changed illustrators and went an entirely different direction. A total failure and the end of that.
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The first book, your book, sold more than a million copies out of the gate. I was a junior copywriter at the time and I people were pretty surprised. However, I doubt there are many copies left in the world today. Hold onto your beloved, ragged copy.
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Gratefully yours,
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James Preller
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P.S. You might enjoy more background info about my very first book by clicking here!
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Category: Fan Mail / Tags: , , ,

A Jigsaw Jones Imposter!

October 28, 2023 / / No comments

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I received a sweet email from Texas yesterday. This is Jake, a 1st grader, obviously very strong, holding his Jigsaw Jones halloween pumpkin.

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Jake got a lot of details just right. Jigsaw never goes anywhere without his detective journal and pencil. Even when he doesn’t, you know, have arms. We know from history that Abe Lincoln sometimes carried important papers under his hat. Jigsaw carries them on his hat. Different strokes, different folks. The note itself is taken directly from The Case of the Christmas Snowman. An out-of-print classic.

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Alert readers may recognize that Jake has cleverly employed a coded message on the back of his pumpkin. Hmmm. It appears to be an Upside Down Backwards Code, if I’m not mistaken. 

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Thank you, Jake. You’ve warmed my heart!

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Category: Fan Mail, Jigsaw Jones / Tags: , , ,

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #330: All the Way from Kalamazoo!

May 12, 2023 / / No comments

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Camden wrote . . . 

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I replied . . . 

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Dear Camden,

What a kind and generous letter! Thank you. And all the way from Kalamazoo, too! That’s one of my favorite place names in the world. It’s right up there with Timbuktu and Oshkosh! I live in Delmar and that name just doesn’t have the same snazzy ring to it. Rats!

Just wondering: Have you ever played a kazoo in Kalamazoo? Or talked to a cow who said “Moo” in Kalamazoo? 

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What would you do

If the grass was blue

And the birds said “Moo!”

In Kalamazoo? 

Would you move to Timbuktu?

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(I’m sorry, I just made that up. Silly me. What other rhyming words can you think of? Canoe! Kazoo! Cockatoo! Purple?)

Anyway! I’m so glad that you read The Case from Outer Space. That’s one of the newest Jigsaw Jones titles and I’m especially fond of it. There’s humor and Little Free Libraries (which I love) and, I think, a pretty satisfying mystery, too. I hope the ending surprised you.

When I was a little boy, my grandmother moved in with us because she was getting old and needed more help. That’s where I got the idea for Jigsaw’s grandmother to be living with his family -— it came directly from my own life. When I look at that illustration by R. W. Alley at the end of the book, with Jigsaw and his father and grandmother gazing at the night stars, well, it stirs my heart. 

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You asked some questions. What inspired me to start writing? I could give you a lot of different answers to that question. But mostly, I think I have a “creative bone” in my body. Some inner desire to make things. To draw pictures or put words on a page. To somehow take whatever is INSIDE of me . . . and try you put it OUTSIDE into the world. To share it. To express myself. Maybe’s it just a way of saying, “Hey, World! Here I am! Look at me!”

I have written many books over the years (I don’t have an exact number). There are 42 Jigsaw Jones titles in all, though right now there are 14 that have been revised and updated and currently in print (meaning: that you can buy them in stores or online). Of those, I’m especially fond of The Case of the Bicycle Bandit and The Case of the Buried Treasure. The most recent title is The Case of the Hat Burglar, which was inspired by the “Lost and Found” tables that I see on school visits. What if, I asked myself, someone was stealing items from the “Lost and Found”?

That’s the question that writers always ask: WHAT IF?

Who would do it? But more importantly —- and here comes a Pro Tip, Cameron — the better question might be, “Why would someone do it?” 

If you can answer WHY, it will often lead a good detective to WHO.

What do you think, Cameron? Why might someone take all the hats -— and then all the gloves -— from the school’s Lost & Found? 

Happy reading!

Your friend,

James Preller

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Category: Fan Mail, Jigsaw Jones / Tags: , , ,

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY: #329: Kindness from Natalee

May 2, 2023 / / No comments

 

 

 

 

 

So nice to get a handwritten letter from a satisfied customer! Here’s Natalee — who read and enjoyed the first book in my new series, Exit 13: The Whispering Pines. 

 

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I replied . . .

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Natalee,

What a nice surprise to find your note in my mailbox. Yes, I remember visiting your school when the book was included in the Scholastic Book Fairs. That was a fun day for me. It is always humbling to see a line of readers waiting for a signed copy of a book. Times like those, I wish I had fancier handwriting instead of my crummy lefty scrawl.

You mentioned that you enjoyed how Ash and Willow try to figure out the mysteries of the Whispering Pines. As a writer, I felt the same way — as if I was exploring the creepy, exciting world of Exit 13 right along with them. What happens if they go deeper into the woods? What’s going on with that wolf? What’s the deal with Kristoff, could he really be hundreds of years old? What’s going on in the room behind the Unnumbered Door? And will they ever get home again?

Honestly, I’m still trying to figure some of that stuff out myself. But you will find answers to many of those questions in the next book, The Space In Between, coming out this August 1st.

Thank you for your letter. It means a lot to me. Good luck in middle school next year. It’s exciting: new teachers, new classes, new friends. You’ll kill it!

Your friend,

James Preller

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Category: EXIT 13, Fan Mail / Tags: , ,

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #328: Good News About “Exit 13”

April 14, 2023 / / No comments

 

I wonder: Is fan mail down in general? Are teachers encouraging students to write to authors — to send letters via snail mail — stamps & envelopes and all that jazz? I mean, clearly, it could be me. Still in a pandemic & post-pandemic lull. I imagine that it’s a combination of those two things. In so many ways, it’s just been a weird time in children’s books. The pandemic is over, but it’s still not over-over, and teachers certainly have their hands full.

The good news is that I’ve got at least four books on the way — some exciting things, too — and there will be a lot more than that before we’re through.

Not dead yet!

The stories we tell ourselves, our inner narratives, are so important (and coincidently play a key role in my current work-in-progress). The story I’ve embraced is that I’m a survivor. Published my first book in 1986 at age 25 and still publishing, still writing. More than half my life in children’s books, close to 2/3 of my entire life, actually, where I’ve been actively involved in books for young people. There are ebbs and flows, ups and downs. Times when I’ve felt embraced and times I’ve felt ignored by an indifferent world. I try to ride them like waves. Float on the surface. Keep swimming. 

Throughout everything, I still fall in love with the thing I’m doing right now, this minute. The latest idea, the current story. Not always literally glad to sit down at the writing desk, but also, in a more figurative way, always glad to sit down with the work before me. To wrestle and wrangle and dread and dream and avoid and write. It’s the best part, the part that endures. Making things. Being creative. Putting it out into the world.

Anyway, I’m grateful for the letters I do get and I thought I’d share this one, since it involves a bit of (good!) news.

This came via email from Gina & Sophia . . . 

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Hi

My daughter just finished Exit 13 tonight and was begging to know if there was another book after this one. Do you ever give fans advanced copies? I see you have one coming in August.

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I replied . . .

 

Gina & Sophia,

I love the enthusiasm and, I’ll admit it, the begging, too.

What writer doesn’t want readers begging for more books? I’m not above it, that’s for sure. 

At this date, there are no advance copies available — I don’t believe it’s even gone to the printer yet. 

However, here’s a glimpse from a page in the upcoming book, illustrated by the great Kevin Keele:

How is that for creepy? That art work — where the wolf seems to lead Ash to a shocking discovery — happens about midway through the book.
Here’s the cover . . . 
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I appreciate your interest and hope you like the next book. I think it’s even more exciting as Ash and Willow delve deeper into the mysteries of Exit 13. 
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I think I’ll probably post a sample chapter on my blog at some point soon. The book will be available on August 1st. Pre-orders are helpful and welcome!
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My best,
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James Preller
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Category: EXIT 13, Fan Mail / Tags: , , , ,
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