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I loved the Hardy Boys, too. My cousin had them all in his "fort" in the basement and I'd go down there, lie on his army cot and read. Sometimes he even let me borrow one! Of course, I loved Nancy Drew! They weren't in the library when I was a kid and I'd save up to buy one--$1.00. Funny that you were going to write a letter to Franklin W. Dixon. I was SHOCKED to learn there was no such person as Carolyn Keene.

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Nice, Barb.

I think my own glimmerings of wanting to be a writer happened while reading the Hardy Boys. I convinced myself that I was going to write a letter to Franklin W. Dixon and ask him if, after he retired, I could write the Hardy Boys books. Little did I know that the answer would have been yes; Franklin W. Dixon was a pen name used by a bunch of different Hardy Boys writers.

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I loved Hello Beautiful, too. YES! It stretches your heart. It's on my list of books to write about here.

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They were, indeed--even Amy, in the end.

Yellowface is brilliant. I'm almost finished. Putting Babel on my to-read list. Thanks for the tip.

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A lovely book, but they were all just a little too good, weren’t they?

I am so excited about YELLOWFACE. Waiting for my library copy. BABEL blew me away and Kuang is a master storyteller with a lot of interesting things to say. Can’t wait to hear what you think.

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I loved this post! I, too, love Little Women. If you haven't already, you might want to check out the new novel Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, which references Little Women and is a modern-day version of sorts. I absolutely adored it. There's nothing like a book you can get lost in, one that stretches your heart and makes you feel like you've really lived with the characters in their struggles.

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Fourth grade must be the perfect age for Little Women. Good for you for buying BOTH editions!

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Oh my goodness. LITTLE WOMEN was the very first book I asked for, Christmas when I was in 4th grade. My mom wasn't sure I was old enough for it, but she'd never read it and knew I was an advanced reader. I loved it and read it again and again (and was I ever thrilled when I learned there were two more books about the March family!) Just this year I bought two different huge and thoroughly annotated editions, because I couldn't decide between the two.

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