P.S. Those flying dinosaurs were pretty cool.
March 2, 2003
Dear Collin,
I’ve never heard of Battle Hymn of the Republic. Is that something you sing in church? We don’t go to church. My dad says church is for people who can’t think for themselves.
I still think it would be great to have some brothers or sisters. It sounds like you get to have a slumber party everynight. One time I went to a slumber party at Jessie Clark’s house, and we ate pizza and ice cream and stayed up until 3 o’clock watching scary movies. It was the best thing ever! But my mom won’t let me go over there anymore because Jessie’s brother smokes pot.
You look like Harry Potter? I love Harry Potter! Have you read any of the books? I’ve read them all so far, and I read The Goblet of Fire three times, but I haven’t told anyone because my friend Dianna thinks they’re stupid. I can’t wait for the fifth book to come out.
What other books do you like?
Sincerely,
Glory
March 25, 2003
Dear Glory,
I’ve read the first and second Harry Potter books, and I’m halfway through the third. We don’t own the books, and they’re always checked out at the library, so sometimes I’ll find one of the books at the bookstore and read it by the encyclopedias until one of the workers finds me and kicks me out. Some other books I like are Bunnicula, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But a book I really don’t like is James and the Giant Peach. It gave me nightmares for two weeks.
You don’t go to church? I thought everybody had to go to church, like they have to go to school and work. Usually church is pretty boring, but sometimes I’ll crawl under the pews and tie someone’s shoe laces together or sneak out and play cards with Jimmy Mullin in the storage room. And yeah, we do sing Battle Hymn of the Republic, especially aroundthe Fourth of July. Mrs. Adamski sings it so loudly that her head shakes.
What are your favorite subjects in school? Mine are music and social studies.
Goodbye,
Collin Finlay
May 6, 2003
Dear Collin,
I love James and the Giant Peach! But I’d rather crawl inside of a giant pineapple. After I read that book I’d find spiders and worms and pretend to talk to them. Why did it give you nightmares?
My favorite subjects are art and science, but this year we only spent a week on astronomy, and when I asked Mrs. Haywood about cosmic smog, she didn’t know what I was talking about.
What are you going to do during summer break? My parents are taking me on a Disney cruise. Again. This will be the third time and I am so sick of them. I’m getting a little too old to care about Mickey Mouse and stupid princesses. I mean, some of the activities are fun, but I wish my parents would realize that I’d rather go on a vacation where I got to spend time with them instead of being trapped in a kids club for a week.
Anyway, this is the last letter exchange for our pen pal project, but I kind of like writing to you, even though you’re a boy. So if you want to keep on writing, my address is at the bottom.
Sincerely,
Glory
May 14, 2003
Dear Glory,
The horrible thing about James and the Giant Peach is that the bugs are the same size as him! I’d be okay being friends with a spider as long as it wasn’t as big as me.
I’d love to go on a cruise. We never really take vacations. The only vacation I’ve been on was when we went to visit my Grandma Wilcox in Cleveland, and it wasn’t very fun because my brother Patrick got sick and threw up all over the car. So I don’t really know what I’ll do during summer break. Maybe we’ll go to the lake a couple times, but I think I’ll spend a lot of time collecting cans for the recycling center so I can buy some more CDs. There’s a new Third Eye Blind album I really want.
I’ll give you my address too since after this project it would be your turn to write to me.
Goodbye,
