Hi Mr. Pinkwater,
Ever since I came to this country from Poland, I’ve been looking for something that’d make America a place different from Poland – the two countries seem to be equally depressing and sad with mean people and stuff. That’s when my friend Hal! recommended that I read Lizard Music. That was the first novel of yours that I’ve read. Then came the 5 Novels, The Education of Robert Nifkin, and the rest. By now, I have read almost all of your young adult novels and loved every single one of them. My favorite is The Education of Robert Nifkin. My friend Hal! is a great fan of yours – he even lives in Hoboken because you once lived there too.
But anyhow – the secret identities business. Recently it became more and more necessary in my life to escape the reality of everyday-ness and go on these long road trips around the U.S. with my friend. As a part of the escape, we came up with alter egos for ourselves. This is where you may feel either flattered or angry because I used your last name, because it’s just so cool. I hope you will not mind this (if you do, I’ll try to change it, but I’d prefer not to, as the character I have is a kick-ass character who’s kind of punk and insane and reads comic books, wears arm warmers, and sings really really badly). My alter ego is named Sarah Pinkwater and my friend’s alter ego is Ethan Ironhorse. During our road trips, we always have a copy of Borgel in the trunk of our car along with the giant road atlas. Our favorite line from Borgel is (I paraphrase), “I don’t know how this space-travel machine works – I just use it. You don’t know how your car works either, no?”, which is basically how our road trips go. So far we have gone to Niagara Falls and deep Jersey (we live in NYC). Next stop: Montreal (a whole new country – apparently if you go there and don’t speak French, just English, they’re really mean to you. Imagine, a whole country full of jerks! What a treat!).
I hope you’re doing okay, Mr. Pinkwater, especially in the light of recent insanity in Manhattan (I saw it all from my job’s window when I went to get a soda from a fridge).
Happy on,
Maggie Krzywicka (going on 22)
Sarah Pinkwater sounds too much like an old aunt of mine. How about Sarah Pinkwaterx, or Sarah Pinkwater.2, to hint at the secret identity-ness? This way my old auntie will not get picked up by state police for things you may have (innocently) done. Loony on.
