WHY WRITE

I just read an interview that you did in 2007. When the interviewer asked you what your advice would be to readers you responded with, "Responsibility.......I hope HGH empowers them. Read it knowing that you have the power." I sit here today, 28 years old, crying over this response. I read your book for the first time when I was 10 years old. My mother always let me wander the books in Kroger, and I found the chimp and weird tree on the cover impossibly intriguing. I inhaled Hurt Go Happy, reading with the illumination of the streetlights on the way home. I love your book, and cherished it over the years. I identified with Joey, and felt understood. I am now on the path to becoming a sign language interpreter, and credit much of that drive to your book. I was a stay at home mother, anxious about returning to college, but still an avid reader. I pulled my old friend HGH off the shelf, the paper cover hanging on for dear life, and it soon became obvious what I would be going to school for. After reading this interview, I guess I just wanted to email you and say your book impacted my life in so many ways. And that it empowered me, then and now. I recommend it to everyone I meet, and it remains in my favorites. I will read it to my children when they are old enough. I am only one person, in my own little corner, but I truly do not think I would be the person I am today if I had not read your book all those years ago. I hope this email finds you well. I think you are wildly interesting and awesome. And Thank You. 

Warm Regards, Macy

4/10/ 2026