[Sasha Rietti]

I wanted to share this story with you.  I thought you would enjoy seeing what your book helped inspire.  

https://www.delmartimes.net/news/story/2024-02-07/sage-canyon-students-invite-butterfly-project-to-school-for-holocaust-remembrance-day

 

Dear Sasha,

Thank you so much for sending me the link to this story. One of my fans had sent me the picture of the Auschwitz uniform, but I was glad to be able to read the whole story and see the pictures of the students who created this project. I'm very moved and very proud that it was my book, LINKED, that partially inspired this.

The students and their families should be very proud of it.

                       Thank you again,                                                                      -----Gordon Korman-----

[Nathan]

Hi gordon its Nathan, I love linked and I think it is important to tell kids about the past so it doesn't happen again.

Nathan

I agree, Nathan. And I like to think LINKED did it without preaching. Some people found the story upsetting, but the majority of my fan mail was positive. Thanks for adding to the positive side.                                                     ---GK---

[Eleanor]

Dear Mr. Korman, I really enjoyed the book Linked. I could barely put it down. I can’t wait

to read more of your books.

    Thank you,

      Eleanor

Thanks, Eleanor. With the recent release of SLUGFEST, my list now adds up to 103 titles, so you won't be running out of reading material any time soon! 

                                   Happy reading!                                                -----Gordon Korman-----

[Teri]

Dear Mr. Korman, My name is Teri.W,I am in 7th grade.I am writing to you,because I found your book Linked very interesting.The reason I picked this book was because I had read many of your books like,Slacker,War Stories, The Fort, and my favorite Restart. I have a lot of experience with other books of yours so I was very interested in this book. The synopsis was amazing. It was able to grab my attention from the beginning and made me want to read this book even more after reading the synopsis.

 

I loved how you were able to grab the reader's attention by making the reader guess who was the person who was drawing the swastika’s. The way you were able to show Link's character development was amazing. My favorite character was Link because of the character development with his past and him being able to connect with his Jewish heritage.  My least favorite character was definitely Link’s dad because he was so focused on his town becoming the new big thing that he forgot about everything happening in his own town and was too focused on his own bubble. I connected really well with Dana because I know what it is like to feel single out. What I liked about Dana was how she helped Link out after he found out he was Jewish and needed help figuring out his ancestry and his past.

My favorite part was when we found out that Link was the one who drew the swastikas,because that was a real turning point in the story. I was shocked when I found out that of all people that could have drawn the swastikas it was the person who was Jewish. I loved the part when all of the student’s decided to show awareness about the horrible massacre of the Jews,the Holocaust.  They students decided to make six million paper chain links to show the six million people that died in the Holocaust.  The part when the mom cried after telling Link that he was Jewish and that their grandma’s family got sent to a concentration camp and they all died and that the grandma was the only survivor. That brought me into tears and I felt so connected to the characters in that part of the story.

I think that this book tells such an important message and I think this book should become a movie. It  could teach people all around the world about the Holocaust. I just wondered how long did this book take you to make,and how many revisions did it take. How much research did you have to do before you wrote this incredible book? What was your reason for writing this book,what went through your mind when you wrote this book.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. 

 

Sincerely (Teri.W)

 

 

 

Hi, Teri,

Thanks for posting. I'm pleased that LINKED seems to have made such a deep impression on you.

It took about  one year to write LINKED, and there was only one revision because the editor was really pleased with the way it turned out. The inspiration was actually the Tennessee school that collected 6 million paper clips just to get an idea of what a vast number 6 million really was. I chose a paper chain -- I can't even remember why! I'm exceedingly proud of the book. Writing it was definitely a very personal experience for me.

Thanks for your in-depth analysis. I appreciate it very much.

                                    Best regards,                                                           -----Gordon Korman-----

[Ben]

Is there going to be a sequel on Linked?

[Ben]

Is there going to be another book on Linked?

Hi, Ben,

LINKED is a standalone too, although I would never rule out a sequel.                  -----Gordon Korman-----