Kevin Cheek

I am undoubtedly a fan of your work. As a child, I was not a complete outsider, not the object of constant bullying and ridicule, and your books did not save my childhood. OK, I did have a rather unusual childhood, but I went to very good schools and had very good teachers. I was aware enough to realize, even as young as third grade, that I should be grateful for caring, intelligent, challenging teachers. I never even had many lazy or misguided teachers to compare them to–I was truly lucky! I mention all this to illustrate that your work appeals to many of us who did not have a parallel experience to your protagonists (along, or course, with those who did). What does appeal to me is the individuality and confidence of your characters–the fact that they can assemble the world from their own unique perspective. When that comes into conflict with the way we are often told the world works, the result is that rare, wonderful combination of humor and wisdom that makes great literature.