Selected Letters from correspondence between Harold Brodkey and his young daughter Temmie Brodkey. Photographs of the Brodkeys from the 1950's and 1960's.

EXCERPT

To be right in school means only to agree with the teacher (or means only that the teacher agrees with you). The great gift of an education is to learn to think one's own thoughts, to learn to observe and to learn from the observations, and from that learning to make thoughts. An essay is a chance for you to study your own thoughts some of which may be foolish, but they are yours, and if you write them – the foolish ones – you may discard them. Mistakes are good things. So is not making mistakes. But we are humans and we had better love our mistakes – love learning from them. Don't worry about grades all the time. Grades are only part of school. You are the other part. And I love you. Daddy