Here, I hope without violating her privacy, is my recent correspondence with a young girl. This is not at all the same as a simple "Your books suck" kind of letter that can be ignored. But I find myself wondering what my legitimate role is. I never want to get pulled into a political or religious discussion, though some readers seem to invite me to.  I steer clear of that.  And I don't want to intrude at all on family situations. In this case, I think I've said all I want to say. But I also think I would have been remiss not to grapple at all with the issues raised.  I just hope this child is reasonably comfortable with my answers. And it would be great if she showed the emails to her mother. But I suppose that is asking too much.

                    On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 6:47 AM, XXXX wrote:

                        I do not think that this is  a  kids book I has stuff kids shoud not read about in it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 1:49 PM, Lois Lowry wrote:

   I don't know which book of mine you are talking about, XXXX. I have written 35 books.

  But I think kids should know about EVERYTHING and that reading books is a great way to learn.

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 7:16 AM, XXXX wrote:

                I am talking about anastasa has the answers it talks about bad things

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 2:31 PM, Lois Lowry wrote

            I can't think of a single "bad thing"in that book.

    On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 9:00 PM, XXXX wrote:

  It talks about sex so i think u mite want to read your on book again

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 11:16 PM, Lois Lowry wrote:

Well, I took your advice, XXXX, and looked all through ANASTASIA HAS THE ANSWERS. And I didn't find a single thing in it that could be described as "bad."  It does use the word "sex" when Anastasia tries to convince her English teacher to use the book "Gone With the Wind" in class, and he says he thinks it is inappropriate.  But surely that isn't what you meant.  And it uses the word "sexy" when Anastasia's friend paints her toenails and announces that she thinks they look sexy. Surely that isn't what you meant.

    So I have to disagree with you, I'm afraid.  I don't think there is a single bad thing in the book and I am happy to have my own grandchildren read it.

   On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 8:00 AM, XXXX wrote:

It also talks about a girl liking another girl i mean it happens in life but u do not need to put that stuff in kid books

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 3:00 PM, Lois Lowry wrote:

XXXX, it talks about a girl worrying because she sort of has a crush on her female gym teacher. You're right, that such things happen in real life. In the book, the girl talks to her mother about it and is reassured that she is perfectly normal. I think it is valuable for kids—readers—to know that: a) one can talk about such things with Mom and b) that such feelings are normal.

Sometimes a book is a very comfortable way to think about such things.  Sometimes it is good to read a book with your mom and talk about it.

With love,

Lois Lowry