Letters to Jenny

Articleissues
cleanup=October 2007
wikify=October 2007
unreferenced=October 2007
OR=October 2007Infobox Book |
name = Letters to Jenny


image_caption =
author = Piers Anthony Alan Riggs
country = United States
language = English
cover_artist =
genre = Letters
publisher = Tor Books
release_date = October 1994
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 288 pp (hardcover 1st ed.)
isbn = ISBN 0-8125-2282-6
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Letters to Jenny" is a collection of letters that Piers Anthony wrote to Jenny Gildwarg which also contains news of Jenny's progress. Jenny was a 12-year old girl who was run over by a drunk driver on Dec 9th, 1988. She remained in a coma for several weeks, occasionally making small movements. According to Anthony's notes, she regained consciousness fully paralyzed, being able to move only her eyes and one finger. Feeling that Jenny was losing hope, her mother wrote to Piers Anthony, asking if he would please write a letter to Jenny, as he was one of her favorite authors.

Jenny was a normal girl before the accident, loved animals, and even after the accident asked that her parents adopt any homeless cats they found. Anthony corresponded regularly and he eventually wrote a letter to Jenny, proposing that he create a Jenny character, patterned after her, in his next Xanth book, "Isle of View". He made the character an elf of the "Elfquest" variety (another of her favorite series). and gave her a pet cat named Sammy.

Next, Mr. Anthony received a letter from Jenny's mother. When she read his previous letter to Jenny, and asked her about the elf character, Jenny smiled. And she then made much progress, communicating (at first) by blinking her eyes. Today, Jenny remains confined to a wheelchair. Jenny Elf has become a regular character in the Xanth series.