thank you

comment:

One of my students received a reply from you (we wrote letters a little while back and recently mailed them). You were the first author we have heard back from, so that is exciting, but more importantly, the 6th grade girl who received your signed letter, lost her mother 2 months ago to cancer. She is one of 5 young children who lost an involved, loving mother. You brought SO MUCH joy to her; I wish you could have seen the expression on her face when I told her and showed her. Her teacher said she clutched it as she returned to her classroom with joy. Thank you so much for taking the time to write her back! My son and I also enjoyed Shiloh – what a gift you and your writing is to young children! –

Phyllis replied:

My pleasure too.  I worry sometimes about children who write an author who doesn’t respond.  Must be hard seeing other children sharing their author letters when they don’t get any, but I sure understand an author’s overload too. Most distressing of all is when there is an error in the return address a child gives me and the letter comes back.  I do everything I can to track down the new address, but I’m afraid some teachers mail batches of letters close to the end of school and sometimes families have moved on by the time I get a child’s letter.