Comfortable in my own Skin

Question:

Only five minutes ago I finished Now I’ll Tell You Everything, and as silly as it sounds, I’m crying. It’s not a sad type of cry, but it’s not necessarily a happy type of cry. It’s bittersweet. I’m excited that I found out what became of Alice, but I’m sad that It’s over. I feel like I personally knew Alice. Sometimes, I even felt that Alice and I were the same person. Now that it’s over, It’s time for me to figure everything out. I’m seventeen, so that should be in order, anyhow. However, I can’t thank you enough for giving me, as well as thousands, of girls, the pleasure of knowing Alice.

I know you get myriads of these ‘Thank you’ emails, but you truly deserve them. I want to say thank you as well, but I want to do it in a different way. I’m not just going to tell you how the Alice series just helped me out in hard times, I’m going to tell you how to the Alice series helped me find who I was. Alice helped me find a way for me to be comfortable in my own skin. And for that, I will forever be grateful.

Over my high school years, I read the Alice series to bring me solace in my chaotic life. The summer after my freshman year, I moved across the country. It was probably thee hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Well, so far, anyways. The move had left me depressed, and I had no idea where I belonged or who I was. Thanks to Alice, that changed. I read your books and I related to Alice. I sought wisdom from her, and I learned from her. I related to her so well, she and I are practically the same person. She questioned just about everything, just as I do. She had a passion for politics and controversial topics, and I’m the exact same way. It felt nice to have someone who understood me, even if she isn’t technically real. To me though, she is real. She’s the one who helped me understand the person I thought would never be understood. That person was me. I love myself thanks to Alice. That is something that never would have happened, had I not found your books.

Mrs. Naylor, you and Alice are my role models. Thank you so much. I know one day that I’ll pass my Alice books down to my daughter. And she’ll laugh at all the dog eared pages I marked because of the valuable wisdom Alice had given. But she’ll understand too, once she gets to those pages. Alice will help my daughter as she did me. And that’s the best thing I could ever ask for.
 
Phyllis replied:
 
The fact that you like yourself now–that you are comfortable in your own skin–is the happiest part of your
letter.  That Alice had anything to do with that makes me really happy.