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The Giant-Slayer Iain Lawrence Hardcover | Delacorte Books for Young Readers | 978-0-385-73376-2 | November 2009 | $16.99 | Ages 8-12 Hardcover Library Binding | Delacorte Books for Young Readers | 978-0-385-90393-6 | November 2009 | $19.99 | Ages 8-12

Dear Dad,

I know the last place you want me to be is at the hospital visiting Dickie. In fact, you've told me more than once that I am not allowed to go at all. But I have to! Dickie is my best friend. You should see him, Dad, lying so helpless in that iron lung. All you can see is his head poking out of the end and resting on a pillow. The steady hum of the machine helping him breathe is a noise I'll never forget. I know no one knows more about polio than you do. I mean, you spend almost every waking hour working for the Foundation to help find a cure. I know you don't want me to go because you're afraid I'll catch it and be put in an iron lung, too. But, Dad, Dickie needs me! So do Carolyn, Chip, and the other kids on the polio ward. I tell them stories. Stories about gypsies, unicorns, giants, and gnomes and anything else I can think of. I think me telling stories helps take their minds off being stuck in there. Sometimes, they even help me with the story, adding details or changing events so that it's more theirs, you know? I promise, Dad, I won't do anything to try and get sick. You're just going to have to trust me. All I know is these kids the hospital, they need me. And as long as I'm well, I'm going to do all I can to make it as easy on them as possible. Please try to understand.

Your faithful, but disobedient daughter,

Laurie

COPYRIGHT

Prepared by Brenda Day, Library Media Specialist, Aledo Middle School , Aledo , Texas

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