From: Chris Dowling <cdowling>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 21:40:48 -0500

I have so enjoyed everyone's thoughts and comments about this topic...As the oldest child of four kids, I was the designated babysitter, and I devoured orphan stories, the more wrought with tragedy and tyrants, the better....Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden...To escape the pure drudgery of babysitting, I often had my siblings dressed as orphans, tasting gruel, sweeping, taking long
(cruel) train rides on the living room furniture, daring to ask for more food. My brothers rebelled at the orphan costumes and fled outside for football, but my sister was always game for more stories.
  I agree that it all had so much to do with the resiliency and imagination of the orphan children to find their own way in the world that I found so liberating and inspiring. They certainly all fed my imagination - it's been passed on...my son, Flannery, is constantly checking the www.theleakycauldron.com almost as much as he checks www.dodgers.com
  I haven't read "My Side of the Mountain" in years, but I have to get it now...I so loved that book...Thank you, Caroline!
  Kerry Madden Gentle's Holler, Viking Children's Books
Received on Thu 25 Aug 2005 09:40:48 PM CDT