FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #342: A Drawing from Amber

May 9, 2025 / / No comments

 

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What a nice surprise to receive a letter and a drawing from Amber in Illinois, who named Wake Me In Spring her favorite book. Illustrator Jeffrey Scherer and I published that one back in 1994 and it’s still one of my favorites, too. 

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Amber also included this fabulous drawing . . . 

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I replied . . . 

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Dear Amber, 

Did you write that letter all by yourself? My goodness, you must be doing great in school. Keep up the good work!

I’m very glad to hear that you loved Wake Me In Spring. I’ve written many books in my career —- after all, I am as old as dust! —- but Wake Me In Spring, illustrated by Jeffrey Scherer, written 31 years ago, remains one of my favorites. It’s just so nice, that friendship between Bear and Mouse, don’t you think?

When I visit schools, I still love to share that story with young readers. I also love to read my new book, Two Birds and a Moose!  You might like it, too. I have another one coming out this summer: Two Ballerinas and a Moose! Ha, ha, ha. 

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Thank you, especially, for the fantastic, amazing, stupendous drawing you sent along with the letter. Wow, Amber! You have a ton of talent. Maybe one day I’ll be reading one of your books! That is, I hope you are making up your own stories at home. And if you are not, well, you should!

Happy reading, happy summer, happy birds, happy clouds, happy knees, happy toes, happy bananas, happy everything!

James Preller

P.S. Your real letter is on the way!

 

Category: And a Moose!, Fan Mail / Tags: , , ,

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #341: My Pen Pal Jaquan (Plus Some Actual FREE Writing Advice!)

May 7, 2025 / / No comments

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Back in February of 2018, I received a piece of fan mail from Jaquan. It was partly in braille, a first for me. And it would become the first of many, many missives we’ve passed along over the years. You see, Jaquan is a dedicated, passionate writer. He’s been sending me stories all this time. There have been lags and spurts, but I’ve tried to keep up. Mostly with encouragement and enthusiasm. And every once in a while I’ll stick in a Pro Tip!

That first envelope looked like this:

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A closer look . . .

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For me, receiving a letter from a reader is a privilege, an honor, and an obligation. There was a time, when my Jigsaw Jones mystery series was at its peak, with new titles appearing on Scholastic Book Clubs four times a year, I got a lot of letters. It was almost a problem. I’d get overwhelmed. I tried creating a small brochure, and then postcards, but they made me feel like a robot. For the most part, I’ve made the effort to write authentic responses to each and every letter. That’s partly why I’ve been sharing a sampling of letters-and-responses on this blog since 2008.

Fortunately, I don’t get nearly as many letters as I used to.

Wait, fortunately?

Oh, well!

(Aside: I also suspect that “letters to an author” is not quite the thing it used to be in schools. Particularly snail mail. It’s too bad.)

The writing life has its ebbs and flows, and I’ve been doing it for the past 39 years. Still hanging in there.

And for the past 7+ years, I’ve been hearing from Jaquan. Recently, I received this one, which was a little different from the rest:

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Dear Mr Preller, I hope your doing well i’m a huge fan of your jigsaw Jones series it inspired me to make A series of my own A little while ago I sent books of my  of my own for you to check out  like my dog detective series I really appreciate the influence you have on your writers like me Young writers like me I know you’re super busy and I just want to say thank you for the inspiration lots of good ideas and thank you again when you get a chance to read them, please give me your honest opinion on my work  warm regards Jaquan J, your author Friend ps, thank you again JJ 

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Here’s my reply:

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Jaquan,
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What a kind letter, my friend, thank you.
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As a writer — and sometimes as a writing teacher — I often come up against the limits of how much I can help any other writer. In the end, we are all alone and need to do it on our own. That quiet time with the blank page and the stirrings of our heart, our own talent, our own dedication.
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I love that you love to write. That you love books and reading. If I’ve helped inspire you, and if I’ve encouraged you, then I’m satisfied with that. I don’t have many wise strategies to impart. We are all fumbling in the dark.
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Follow your enthusiasms.
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Keep going.
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And most of all, enjoy it, have fun with it, let your reading & writing be a source of pride and pleasure in your life.
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If we look to the outside world for our happiness, we will almost certainly be disappointed.
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Maybe that’s the creative process in a nutshell? Why we make things out of nothing. Create your own happiness. Light your own candle in the dark & difficult world.
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You’ve been working hard at this for a long time, Jaquan, and it shows. I’m glad you’ve kept me informed, sharing your stories over years. I see your growth. I’m grateful for you.
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And, yes, you are right. I have a life, things to do, and can’t always give your letters a considered response. Don’t mistake a period of silence for indifference. I care about you, and your writing, and I’m right here, cheering you on.
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By the way, I just looked it up. I first heard from you in February of 2018. So many letters and wonderful stories since. You had wanted to send me a letter in braille and a person at the Visions Center, Pamela, wrote to me. I later received your letter and still treasure it.
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We’ve been writing back and forth for seven years now. Isn’t that something?!
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It’s my turn to thank you, Jaquan. I’m so glad you reached out.
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Your friend in books & letters,
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James Preller
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Category: Fan Mail, the writing process / Tags: , , , , ,

The Artist’s Name Is Jeffrey

May 7, 2025 / / No comments

 

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On a recent school visit to Ichabod Crane Middle School — grades 4 & 5, oddly enough — or is it Intermediate? — I get so confused — anyway, moving right along — I noticed a bulletin board welcoming me to the school. Always a thoughtful touch. And there was a portrait of yours truly, based on a photo that still floats around the internet, long after I lost the hat I was wearing, along with a degree of youthfulness.

Later in the day, I had a chance to meet the artist, Jeffrey Dedrick, and asked for a photo. He obliged. For a young rapscallion, Jeffrey sure has talent. He made me look good! Jeffrey even managed to capture my lopsided, lazy right eye.

How did he know?

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Category: School Visits / Tags: , , ,

A Recent Tree, and a passage from SMALL RAIN by Garth Greenwell

April 30, 2025 / / 2 comments

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For almost no reason, a recent tree in my daily wanderings with Echo:

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And here’s a lovely passage from a book I was listening to this morning as I walked in a wooded spot. The book is Small Rain by Garth Greenwell, and it is extraordinary by every possible measure. It is, essentially, about a man who enters a hospital with a serious illness. I’m 80% through it and he is still there, still stuck with needles and tubes and connected to machines, all the indignities and anxieties, the strangeness and the mathematical inevitability of that world. But here he is remembering something, a beloved oak that fell on his property, onto his house, and the crew that came to take it away. 

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These brilliant creatures, I thought as the workers clambered around the trees; these brilliant creatures, they stand up for so long and then they lie down. The oak that fell was dying already, it turned out, it was rotten inside, straight through the trunk. The woman had apologized to me for not flagging it in her inspection; sometimes it takes a long time before they show signs, she said, a tree can be dying for years, decades, and you’d never know. It was beautiful how they died, in the wild, in forests; as they rotted and the wood softened more animals took shelter in them, more insects feasted on them, even after they fell they served a purpose, enriching the soil, they had long lives and long deaths. And there was so much we didn’t understand, the way they communicated through intertwined roots and fungal networks, their huge lungs moving oceans. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine them sentient, ensouled, the only religion that has ever really made sense to me is the worship of trees.

Category: Readings / Tags: , , , , ,

Moose: “I love the world.”

April 26, 2025 / / No comments

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I’m happy about putting this character out into the world.

Art by Abigail Burch, from our upcoming book, Two Ballerinas . . . and a Moose. August, 2025, I believe. 

This art, and this text, is not final-final. We’re still tweaking, fretting, overthinking, at this point.

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COLLECT ‘EM ALL!

Category: And a Moose! / Tags: , , , ,
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