Thank you for providing me with a load of thrills, sentiments and kaleidoscopic emotions as I joined you in your nostalgic journey in “When the Chalk is down”. I have tried to edit here and there, but as I was so overwhelmed with sentimentality as each page unfolded a new truth, I thought it best to leave its pure unadulterated form. I read avariciously, your voice resonating from playful banter to rebuke to officious dutifulness.

Each page evocatively unfolded a moment in your life which many of us can identify with, but very few of us can champion. I felt your sense of mirth, your sense of betrayal, your rebellion, your sense of being duty-bound …longing …yearning …with you …for a sense of fulfilment and closure. In my mind’s eye I anxiously anticipated the overwhelming culmination of years of frustration and waited for …a victory! Believe me, my disappointment in your deeming the acquisition of the “Holy Grail” as an ultimate failure in your arduous journey, was short-lived. For I fervently believe now, that it was a vindication!!

An evocative and provocative novel lifting one from grass roots to the upper echelons where ‘mind’ over ‘matter’ triumphs! You have done us all proud at Foresthaven Secondary!

I wish you well in this beautiful rendition of truth.  I am positive that its publication will be an overwhelming success.  You have done your beloved parents proud!

All the best from my family and I. Thank you for those beautiful memories.