Dear Editor

Snippets from precious letters I receive from precious young fans of my precious science magazine:

"Dear editor, what is anti-matter? If you don't know, ask me and I will tell you."

"Dear editor, please answer these questions. I am going bald with curiosity." (from a 10-year-old)

"Dear editor, please don't send my copy of the magazine to my school. My teacher takes it away and never returns it."

"Dear editor, please pick me! By the way, your magazine rocks!" (on contest form)

"Thank you, Uncle postman!" (on envelope with contest form)

"If I win, I want the pink watch, not the green one!"

"I love your magazine. I love other magazines too."

"My drawing is ugly." (on the contest entry where contestants were required to draw an experimental set-up)

"Why is it that sometimes a light goes on and then it goes off?"

"Mum's hp number: XXXXXXXX, Dad's hp number: XXXXXXXX. Please don't call my Mum." (on contest form)

"And don't forget to switch on the Mission Impossible song!" (with description of how the kid would rescue a captive tiger)

"... and this is how I will rescue the tiger. Now you go and copy my idea!"

"Can you increase the number of contest prizes so I can win?"

"Rescuing a tiger? Easy!" (from a 9-year-old)

"Thank you for your email. I will buy your magazine anyway. You don't have to answer my question." (after I answered a Science question asked by a kid over email)

"I heard a tick-tock sound at one end, and a ding-dong sound at the other end." (The expected answer to the contest question was "low-pitch sound at one end and high-pitch sound at the other end". I gave the kid the prize. Well, he pretty much got the answer, didn't he?)