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Ashley Bach's avatar

I am mad I never heard of this show, but let's give more damn love to programs and movies that inspired millennials to be literary. I don't know where I would be without Matilda and Harriet the Spy.

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Esmé Weijun Wang's avatar

I literally read the entire book of Matilda aloud and recorded the process on cassette tapes when I was young. BIG FAN.

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Kristin A. Demoro's avatar

I read Harriet the Spy repeatedly in middle school, and its follow up book, The Long Secret...or is it Summer ?) This was the mid 1970s and I'm so glad to hear it worked for you, too. Harriet kind of inspired me to start journaling even if at first I was just copying her spying idea. 🤩

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Esmé Weijun Wang's avatar

Did you eat tomato sandwiches as well?

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Kristin A. Demoro's avatar

I don't remember doing that. I think probably not. But I always meant to try an egg cream.

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Emily Ladau's avatar

My college advisor in the English department was a head writer for this show, and it was always a fave when I was younger. Love that you're using it as a teaching tool! And particularly appreciate the idea of being adaptive in the process.

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Esmé Weijun Wang's avatar

omg I’m in awe! & thank you. goodness.

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Grace Jeschke's avatar

OMG I was a huge Lurlene McDaniel fan! The first and only fan letter I wrote -- I was too young not to feel rejected by a form letter. Looking forward to the "Lurlene-McDaniel-reader-to-40-something-in-long-term-therapy pipeline" lol. I never watched Ghost Writer but I might have to catch up on the television I wasn't allowed to.

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Esmé Weijun Wang's avatar

There were so many Lurlene McDaniel rip-offs, too!!!!! So many dying kid books…

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Grace Jeschke's avatar

Yes!!! I remember being particularly impressed by Lois Lowry’s A Summer to Die. All my dolls had mysterious illnesses, too—a subconscious reenactment of when a close friend got sick and no one would explain anything to me.

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Esmé Weijun Wang's avatar

I feel like John Green's The Fault In Our Stars is the heir to all of these books.

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