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In October of 2010, I was charged to write a paper about my literacy for Writing Center Theory. I thought back to the first books I could remember reading, and my memories distinctly went to the book, “Who Needs Third Grade” by Candice Ransom. My first copy was falling apart from the amount of times I read it, bringing it to the dinner table and to the playground. I was completely set on becoming just like the main character’s archnemesis, Delight.

I know what you’re thinking. Archnemesis? What little girl wants that? I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but they end up best friends in the end.

I did a little internet investigating to see if I could find a way to contact her. I was pleasantly surprised to see she had a pretty active (and relatively well designed) website, including an email address to send fan letters. How could I resist?

I didn’t know if she would ever get it, or even if she did, if she’d ever respond. Imagine my surprise when I checked my email the next day, and a reply with my subject line was sitting in my inbox.

Dear Alexandra:

Here I am, getting ready to begin my day’s work this Saturday morning (yes, professional writers work every single day).  It’s chilly for the first time in many months on this Virginia fall day.  My husband is reading the paper.  Our cat Winchester is asleep in the chair across from him, waiting for him to get up so he can steal his chair.  I open up my email, knowing not much will be in my inbox because it’s Saturday.  But there’s this wonderful email from you.  It’s the kind of message writers live for–to hear from our readers how much a particular book meant to them.  I have always believed that kids latch on to unlikely books as a sort of talisman.  When I was a kid myself, I never read a Newbery book (I thought they’d be good for me, like medicine), preferring my beloved Trixie Belden mysteries.  And so when I began writing professionally, I wanted to write Newbery-caliber books, but what came out instead were books about ordinary kids.  To know that one of those “ordinary” books struck a chord in you means so much to me.

And now you are a writer, too!  Did you know that I earned my MFA in writing after I’d published 80 books?  I didn’t have an undergraduate degree (and I was 50 when I started).  I followed that immediately with a master’s in children’s literature.  The month after I graduated from that program, I became a member of its faculty and I have been teaching summers ever since.  My students teach me more than I teach them, I think.  I know this paper you are writing must meet critical standards, but I wish you could write a memoir-ish version of it, too.  One from the heart and not just to satisfy a literary theory course requirement.

I would be interested in knowing what type of writing you are pursuing.  And, in case you didn’t know, there are three other Amber books in that series.  I’ll try to remember the titles:  Third Grade Dectectives, Third Grade Stars, and Why Are Boys So Weird?

Thank you so much for writing.  Your message had made my day!  Writing is a solitary pursuit–you spend a lot of time at the keyboard wondering if anything you committed to the screen is worthwhile.  After hearing from you, I know at least once I got it right.

Warm regards,

Candice

We continued our correspondence briefly. True to the characteristics one would envision a children’s author to have, she was warm and genuinely seemed to care about our conversation. I can only hope, one day, I’ll receive a letter from someone who read an article I published (or book? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves), and they can feel a similar magical experience. Perhaps I’ll invest some time into writing for children. For now, I’m not going to plan that far ahead.