c/o Ms. Gokturk
Paul D. Schreiber High School
101 Campus Drive
Port Washington, NY 11050
3/15/04

Martha Tod Dudman
c/o Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Dear Ms. Martha Dudman,

Hi, my name is Josh Borow; I am in 11th grade attending Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York and I have just finished reading your book Augusta, Gone. 

First of all I would just like to inform you that I think your book was fabulous.  Personally I hate reading, however, reading your book transformed my old way of thinking and made reading a luxury and not a chore.  Throughout the entire book you held my interest, and kept me wanting to know more and more.  Not only that but I truly feel your pain.  Your descriptive use of language enabled me as a reader to understand and feel exactly what you were going through.  I give you lots of credit for being able to endure all of those hardships and work through them.  I don't know how you did it.  I remember reading the part about how you were in a meeting at work, and by accident you lost it and before you knew it you were telling everyone about your life.  I can totally relate to you, because I know that sometimes if I am stressing out about friends, tests, my parents, and other obligations, I’ve slipped and just broken down in class.  As I have experienced a minute degree of the hardships that you had to deal with, I was wondering how did you truly make it through everything?  In your book you speak a lot about taking hikes, was that how you relieved all of your anxieties?  Anyways I hope everything is well with your daughter, son, and yourself.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my letter I greatly appreciate it.  I really loved your book and hope you write another one so I can read it too.  If you do have other books out, please send me the list so I can go out and buy them.  Once again I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time out of your busy schedule to respond to my letter.