Last week (when I was feeling puny) I received a letter from fourth graders at H...

Last week (when I was feeling puny) I received a letter from fourth graders at Hillside Elementary in Hasting-on-Hudson, New York. The letter is wonderful and funny ("We think your life is interesting. We like how you say, 'I can't write' and then go into your office and write!"). The kids also sent a poster constructed of words they love—dingy, spring, sing, peep, drop, shrimp—written on the backs of tickets. Each word on the poster seems like a gift, a promise, a beginning; and every ti...