Thank you to 18-year-old Ezra Weintroub, Brookline High School ‘24
I get no greater joy than hearing from readers, especially from young readers who take the time to read and enjoy my books — and then let me know about it. As you know, I often visit schools as part of my speaking schedule, and I’ve helped numerous students with a variety of projects and papers. That’s why I was so gratified to receive this message about my book, Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, from Ezra Weintroub, and pleased still that Ezra granted permission to share the comments with you. Ezra is a graduate of Brookline (MA) High School, is attending Haverford College this fall, and enjoys fencing, reading, hiking, and baking (including molasses cookies!) To read more readers’ responses to my books and appearances, check out this page, What Readers Are Saying. Here’s the message (and check out the aftermath scene of the great molasses flood on the t-shirt Ezra is wearing!):
“Dear Mr. Puleo – My name is Ezra and I am an 18-year-old Boston native. The first time I heard about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 (or, GBMF1919 as I often shorten it to) was about 10 years ago. As a third-grader, I read your book, Dark Tide, which had been left on the coffee table in our living room. I was immediately struck by not only the intrigue of the unusual disaster, but your storytelling ability. As I’ve grown older, subsequent re-reads of the book have offered me different levels of understanding and appreciation for your craft.
Indeed, I’ve become so interested in GBMF1919 that it’s surprising it took me this long to think of writing to you. I talk about it to anyone who lets me, with a spiel prepared to go at any moment. I own a shirt about it. My phone autofills “Boston Molasses Flood of 1919” if I type the word “Great.” I even bake molasses cookies every January 15 to commemorate it. I say all this so it doesn’t sound like empty platitudes when I say that, from afar, you may have affected my life more than anyone. In short, thank you so much for writing Dark Tide. I greatly appreciate it, though I’m sure all of my friends and family whom I’ve dragged to the plaque in the North End wish I’d never heard of the event.”
