Dear Barry Lyga,
Wednesday, July 25, 2012This feature is one of the new ones I have going around on The Bucket List. Dear... is a feature where I write a letter that is not going to be sent, but may have a slim chance of being seen by a specific person or group. These letters are not meant to be offensive, but meant to spark discussion. Today, I am writing a letter to Barry Lyga, one of my favorite authors of all time.
Dear Barry Lyga,
You probably don’t remember me, but (aren’t those the
generic words you are supposed to say to a celebrity you have met before?) I
was at the Teen Author Carnival on June 5th, 2012.
The Teen Author Carnival was nothing like I have ever been
to before and you were the highlight of the night. I was extremely late to the event because I
walked right past the New York Public Library mistaking the place for a church
(it really does look like a church). I
ran upstairs and had to stand the rest of my way through one of the panels,
which were fantastic!
There was a signing afterwards and coming from BEA, I didn’t
bring a lot of books with me to the city in the first place. I decided to bring my two favorites, Boy Toy by Barry Lyga (you, of course)
and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by
Michelle Hodkin (who is incredibly sweet).
Barry Lyga, you have been my FAVORITE author since seventh
grade. I told you this while you signed
my book and while I was fan-girling inside.
Personally, I think you might get that a lot so I just wanted to write a
letter to tell you how much you have changed me as a reader. I promise not to get all Hero Type on you; I have never been, nor ever will be, a
stalker. A stalker would have sent you
this letter and put something like the “craziest fan mail you have ever
received” had in her letter. My letter
is nowhere near as creepy and I am not sending this to you. I am merely putting this up on my site, The Bucket List, where you may or may
not read it.
Seventh grade was a huge year for me. As an upcoming sophomore in college, I can
truthfully say that seventh grade wasn’t one of my favorite years. Seventh grade was the year I became an avid
reader and that year began shaping me into what you see of me on my website. I wouldn’t have become a reader without your
help and I give you a HUGE thank you for that.
The first book I was genuinely interested in since Magic Tree House
books was Isolde, Queen of the Western
Isle by Rosalind Miles (which, looking back, is definitely out of my
previous self’s age range). After
reading the series, I couldn’t find anything else interesting. No other book dealt (that I could discover as
a seventh grader) with such a taboo subject as forbidden love, awesome battles,
and murdering characters. Then I came
across the first book I have ever read from you, The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl. The book had it all. Her rebellious personality mixed with his
nerdiness of obsessive comic book reading was what I needed to tell me I needed
to read more books, not just by you but by everyone.
The next book I read from you was Hero Type, finishing the book while vacationing at Disney World
(yes, I did bring your book in the park with me). As a reader, your books took me by storm and
blew me away. Thank you again for being
such a HUGE component in my reading career.
I read Boy Toy right after I
received my driver’s license (no, I did not read while driving) and that one
shook me. I feel that a lot of your
books dealt with teens in trouble, in tough situations and when I read about them,
I felt their pain too. Your books were
the key to my maturity. They taught me
not only what not to do (do NOT flash famous people), but what could happen
(really, mother, do you know where your child is), and what the emotion would
feel like if it were to happen. Every
book I have read from you is filled with raw emotion that has kept me up late
at night. I keep thinking what I would
do if I met you. How I would approach
you and what I would say. Being shy
isn’t all that it is cracked up to be because I wanted to say all this and all
I ended up telling you when we met was “Barry Lyga, you have been my FAVORITE
author since seventh grade.” And how I won that Archvillain contest on your website once. Loved Archvillain
too, by the way.
I guess to sum up what I have been trying to spit out the
entire letter is: Barry Lyga, you are awesome; please, continue creating works
of art that will blow me away. I look
forward to your next work!
Sincerely,
Gina
Who is your favorite author? And if you had a chance to meet him/her what would you say?
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