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DALLAS PUBLIC LIBRARY Texas Center for the Book Letters About Literature Contest 2004 Level 2 (grades 7 and 8) winner: Caufield Schnug, Bailey Middle School, Austin, Texas

Caufield Schnug wrote to J.D Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye

Dear Mr. Salinger,

I was named after the main character in your book, The Catcher in the Rye, so I guess I had to read it sooner or later. But when I did, I was quite surprised. I expected that the main character, Holden Caulfield, to share the same traits as me because we shared the same name. However, this was not the case. Holden, in fact, seemed so different from myself, I found it easy to relate with him.

Yes, it is true that I may be trapped in the same half frozen pond of age, as Holden, and perhaps I could be critical of other people sometimes, yet, I don't think like Holden at all. That's what made your book so interesting to me. Holden is the first character in any book that I've ever read who is real. He has unique ideas, crazy habits, an outrageous personality, and an impossible-to-navigate complex mind. Basically, Holden needs a birth certificate. He made me see through someone else's eyes. Before I read your book, it was difficult not to see through my own familiar eyes, and I'm glad I can understand now that other people can go through the same problems I go through, or have their own ideas, and thoughts. I try hard not to be self-centered anymore, and I believe your book helped me in a way. I'm thankful for that.

I still don't understand your book, Mr. Salinger. You should rejoice that I don't understand your book because I still think about it everyday. I try to understand what you meant. I still make my brain hurt by trying to squeeze out every bit of meaning out of your book like juice coming from an orange. I finished reading The Catcher in the Rye a long time ago, but I'm not finished, not near finished with your book yet. Nobody has ever made me try this hard to understand something, Mr. Salinger, and I'm thankful you have given me the chance.

I remember thinking that if I were someone else, everything would be almost the same. Like the new person would share the same views as me, or like the same things as me. The new person wouldn't be new at all. Just the same, old person I never knew after all. I used to think that people were not different from me. And I was wrong and your book justified this. Your book changed my mind about other people, and that's important. It takes a very special book to make me see like that Mr. Salinger, and I'm thankful.

Sincerely,

Caufield Schnug

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