A Love Note on Behalf of Young Fans

On this Valentine’s Day, I’m sending outlove to all the young readers who email me heartfelt notes about my books. I always respond to these immediately—but often, myresponses bounce back as undeliverable. Apparently, many schools haveprotections set up to keep students from communicating with anyone outside theschool system. I understand the reasons for this, of course, but it breaks myheart for students to be left thinking I didn't care enough to respond to them. UsuallyI have no information other than the student’s name, so there is absolutelynothing I can do if my answer bounces back.

If you work in an educational setting, I’d be delighted to hear any suggestions you might have to solve this issue. I always answer correspondence from young readers. How can I make sure they see my email responses? You can see my current contact page, in case that triggers any ideas.

As a sign of my appreciation, I’ll randomly draw one name from those of you who post a possible solution in the comments section below and send you an autographed copy of my picture book The Stuff of Stars. The “leave a reply” button is found above under this post’s title. And thank you in advance for your suggestions!