About a month ago, we received an email from a teacher in Florida who runs a remedial reading program. She wondered if we could offer a discount on our books for a program like hers, or even donate some damaged books. We were pleased to let her know that we keep a whole section of our warehouse for book “seconds,” sometimes called “scratch-and-dents,” that aren’t quite pristine enough to put on a shelf in a (not-used) bookstore, but which still function perfectly well as adventure-filled choice-making literary devices.
We sent her a big box of books, as we do occasionally for other teachers or librarians who reach out to us, and were happy to see more scratch-and-dents going to a good home. What we did not expect was to receive an epic package of thank you notes from all of the students in the remedial reading program! They arrived in a fat, mysterious manila envelope, and all 40 letters were formatted perfectly, with a formal return address in the top corner, a date, a salutation, a lovely heart-felt message, and of course a signature. Some were decorated with highlighter or marker, or even pink polka-dot 3-hole-reenforcers and drawings of adorable starry-eyed round-faced children. One student said he liked the books so much: “that I think there better then nature.” Another student ended his letter with this sincere sentiment: “I hope you have a wonderful life.”
Right back atcha, Xavier.