From Sex, to Periods, to Heartbreak

Question:
 
I can’t even begin to put into words how I’m feeling right now. It’s almost two in the morning and I just finished Now I’ll Tell You Everything after reading nonstop all day. I guess I’ll start by saying thank you. I started reading the Alice books in 4th grade. I’ll never forget staying up late and reading Starting with Alice and finishing it in a day. Or when I wrote a paper on how Alice was my literary hero. Or how for my birthday my mom ordered me about 8 of the Alice books from Amazon. Alice taught me about everything, from sex, to periods, to heartbreak, to enjoying every minute, and to forget about the embarrassing things because they’re just a part of life. I truly feel like Alice helped shape me into who I am today. I just finished my freshman year of college and I will never again come home to a new Alice book waiting for me. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop crying as I write this! I know you get this all the time, but you’ve done an amazing thing for me and countless other people around the world. You’ve had such a strong impact on my life and I can’t thank you enough for that. I was one of those girls who used to write letters asking your advice all the time. I cringe looking back at my problems but if Alice has taught me anything, it’s to take life in stride and enjoy every moment. I own every single Alice book and I can’t wait to share them with my own children. I wish I could explain better what exactly these books have meant to me but I just can’t put it into words. So I’ll end this with thank you, and happy holidays.

Phyllis replied:
 
I believe you put your feelings into words very well.  I don’t think there is a person alive who doesn’t cringe at some of the things she has said or done.  And I had all of my own embarrassments in mind when I wrote the books, even though I didn’t write about them specifically.  Thanks so much for your email.