My Correspondence with Roald Dahl

I was reminded the other night of one of my favorite childhood authors.  My nephew, Michael, came to dinner clutching a book.  Something I loved seeing regardless.   Later on I asked him if I could see what he was reading.  To my surprise and pleasure he was reading Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  This was perhaps my first favorite book and one of the first I read on my own.  

As part of my fascination with the book I recall being encouraged by my teachers to write Mr. Dahl and tell him what I thought of his story.  I did just that.  After several weeks or months - I can't actually remember just how long it took now - he wrote back!  It was what seemed to be a hand-typed letter with a penned signature at the bottom.  Of course, I have no way of knowing if he or his secretary wrote the letter, but it didn't matter.  

I told Michael this story at dinner and I'm not sure if he totally got it, but I'll definitely chat about with him in the future.

Later in the week, I went to return the library books we borrowed for Liem over the holidays.  With this memory fresh on my mind, I decided to see if there were any stories by Dahl that I could read to Liem.  In fact, there are several.  I checked out The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me and The Magic Finger. Reading these books to Liem brings back the vision that Dahl had and his dedication to the magic that is a child's imagination.  Liem absolutely loves these stories and I've now read them each at least half a dozen times.  

My next goal is to go through my mother's garage to FIND THAT LETTER!