[Martha Mahtani]

Hello,

I am reaching out to you from Dyer, Indiana. I am a junior high teacher and I teach mainly ELA in a private, Christian school. Every year since I've begun teaching (I'm currently in my fifth year), I've chosen your book I Want To Go Home! as my first read-aloud to my 6th grade students. They always thoroughly enjoy it, but this year, my students asked right after I finished, "Is there a second book?!" They wanted more, and they wanted it badly! I told them that there isn't a sequel, but maybe they could try to continue the story in their next writing assignment for me... This idea did not thrill them :) I said then, "Perhaps I can reach out to the author," so here I am!

I grew up reading your books - I Want To Go Home!, This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! and the other Bruno and Boots books, the Dive, Island, Everest, and Kidnapped series, Schooled, The Toilet Paper Tigers, and many more. I'm the youngest child of eight (born in 1998) so I grew up with a lot of your books in the house! I have many titles in my own classroom and your name is often one that comes up when I have students looking for books that include both good writing and humor at the same time. I very much enjoyed your books as a kid, so I'm happy to recommend your name to them.

I write to you now, though, wondering if you have ever considered writing a sequel to I Want To Go Home! or if you ever would consider the possibility. We brainstormed ideas this morning for you :) Maybe the book could be about Rudy trying to break in instead of break out of Camp Algonkian... Perhaps it could center around Rudy's younger brother Jeffrey who gets sent to the camp... and maybe he tries to escape (with Rudy's help). One student thought it could otherwise be about Rudy being sent to a different camp! Of course, this is just coming from a random group of 6th graders in the U.S. spit-balling ideas...

... but we would love to hear from you, regardless of your thoughts about this! If you are able and willing to reach back out, we would be most excited to get a response. Our school year ends on May 22, though I will still have this same group of kids returning next year for seventh grade. I did tell them that, if Gordon Korman does respond and if he does write a sequel to this book, I would ask IF AT ALL POSSIBLE whether he could have the new book published before May 2027 so that I can read it aloud to them before they graduate from eighth grade. Take that as you will :)

Sincerely,

Martha Mahtani

[Asher]

Mrs Mahtani, this is probably the most common request on this forum. Let's see what Gordon says. I personally cannot imagine saying no to such a nice request.

Hi, Mrs. Mahtani & Students,

Thanks for posting. I'm so glad I WANT TO GO HOME has made such a big hit with your class! It's one of my most popular books, and that's out of a group of (gasp!) 106 titles by the June 1st release of SNOOP.

I wonder if you checked the date in the book. I was 15 when I wrote it, and I'm now 40+ years older. I'm not even sure I could get back into Rudy Miller mode at this point! But I won't rule it out either. Please ask your class to accept an indefinite "maybe." Not satisfying, I know, but the best I can do at the moment.

And thanks again for your support for my work.                                                                 -----Gordon Korman-----

P.S. Tell the kids some of their ideas are pretty darn good!

[Martha Mahtani]

Hi,

Thanks so much for your response! I didn't know if we'd get a reply from you so that's pretty neat! My students were excited when I shared your note with them. They were delighted that you liked some of their ideas!

I did NOT in fact know that you wrote I Want To Go Home when you were 15... That's incredible! I understand what you mean about not being in the "Rudy Miller mode," but I do hope though (as my students also do) that someday later, even if you are very, very old, you will get back into that mode and write a second book about Rudy's (or Jeffrey's) adventures.

For now, we will kindly and understandingly accept your "maybe" and simply keep hoping that your "maybe" turns into a "yes"!

Thanks again,

Martha Mahtani

P.S. Wow - 106 titles! That's quite impressive! Maybe we will reach out sometime to ask you to come speak at our school and perhaps do a few book commercials on some of the texts you've written. I'll get to work on having these kids read more of your work in the meantime!