Student emailed author her graphic novel 'sucks.' She replied: 'Dude, don't send from your school email'

Kids say the most honest things with no filter, and award-winning Jordanian-American author, illustrator, and creative director Sara Alfageeh (@SaraAlfageeh) experienced that firsthand when she received an email from a student. The email had the subject "URGENT PLEASE READ," just to tell her how much her book "sucked." While the author appreciated the "review," she had one piece of advice to give the child after reading their email. The post was shared on September 23, and it received 47,000 likes, 1,000 reshares, and 84 comments.

Respectfully, but not

Sara Alfageeh's book "Squire" was part of the reading list in schools, and she knew it was still in the curriculum through the student's email. The child wrote, "Hello, Ms. Alfageeh. Respectfully, I would like to inform you that the graphic novel you have written sucks. Please rewrite this sh*t now. B-b-b-b-b-boi, your book sucks." Alfageeh found the email hilarious and reshared it. She responded with, "My dude, don't send messages from your school email. I can literally see who you are and where you go to school."

'That was concerning'

Alfageeh, who has written children's books such as "Not Yet: The Story of An Unstoppable Skater," "Once Upon An Eid," and "Matcha Makers Avatar: The Last Airbender," explained that her response was to let the student know he should not be doing this on a "monitored school email," since it might get him in trouble. She was also concerned because it was extremely easy for her to find where he went to school just by looking up the email. She wrote, "It took me a whole 10 seconds to find his actual school, and that was concerning." Her reply was more of a concern than a comeback.

Picking their own books

Not every kid is a fan of "required reading" texts. The 6th edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report by YouGov found that 89% of kids aged 6-17 said that their favorite books were the ones they picked by themselves. Only 10% disagreed with the notion. Additionally, children were more likely (88%) to finish a book that they picked, compared to 3% who "disagreed a lot." The child who emailed Alfageeh may not have enjoyed "Squire" as much because it was part of their required reading. 

'Not an in-depth analysis'

People had mixed opinions about Alfageeh's response to the child's email. Some thought the child was trying to form their own thoughts, despite the harshness of the language, while others outright criticized Alfageeh for "threatening" a child. @appleboness commented, "Well, they did say respectfully." @CyberSaintess pointed out, "I appreciate the use of hyphens to really imbue his voice in the writing."

You can follow Sara Alfageeh (@SaraAlfageeh) on Threads for more book-related content.

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