Learning to Read

Sheldonista Suzanne C. sent me one of the kindest notes I think I've ever received. As a cartoonist, my job is ultimately to be an entertainer, to temporarily lift people's day from the frustrations and fears we all have. But a note like this put my cartooning in a different light, and really touched me.

"... I can even work your daily strip into my lesson plans. My class LOVES Arthur, and more recently, Oso. One of my girls is a struggling reader, and has a Pug named Whuffle. The girl hates to read; labors with it. But she ALWAYS reads the pug strips, no matter how hard the words-she'll look them all up. She prints them all out and takes them all home and puts them on her fridge. So it isn't just the laughs. Look at what you've done for a girl you've never met. She learns more words from you than she does from me, because she wants to understand the joke. I can't think of anything more important."

I'm not afraid to admit that that actually made me tear up a little bit. Thanks for that note, Suzanne!