Dear Mr. Jay Asher,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. Your book, Thirteen Reasons Why, gave me perspective when I thought I knew it all.
The little snide comments that people would whisper just quietly enough so that you could hear but the teacher couldn't, the rumors started when you left the room, I knew how it felt for everyone to be watching you, waiting for the moment to be able to prove the rumors true. Because everyone else is so desperate for them to be true. That way, they'll be able to feel a little better about themselves.

Suicide shouldn't ever be taken lightly. No one would purposely kill himself or herself just for the sake of it. Everyone gets the “suicide is bad” part, but they don't understand the most important part of it, which is one of the huge messages I got from this book.
Someone is thinking suicidal thoughts because of something. Perhaps it was something someone said, what someone did, because even if they did apologize, it's hard to completely forget what happened, even if you did “let it go”.

I, myself, am not ashamed to admit that once or twice in my life, the thought of suicide has flashed across my mind. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has thought about it, at least once. Maybe it was a very traumatic time in your life, maybe someone very dear to you passed away, maybe the stress seems unbearable, maybe, maybe, maybe.
But if one thing is for sure, it's that it's because of something.
Just because you can't always see it, doesn't mean its there. Look around you!
Studies show that almost 1 in 5 teens have suicidal thoughts regularly. For every successful suicide, eight to fifteen attempts at suicide have been made.

Although Hannah is a fictional character, her story is one similar to many real life ones.
Mr. Jay Asher, you opened my eyes to the real world we are living in.
Before even finishing your book, already I started noticing things that I hadn't before.

My friend had been considering suicide. She'd been intentionally injuring herself, but in a way that no would suspect. She would ride her bike from time to time, normally so it wasn't anything unusual. But she'd return home with bruises from falling off her bike onto rocks. It was weird, considering she could text and ride in a straight line at the same time. She didn't fall very often.

Where had I been all this time? How did I not notice before now? I asked myself these questions every night and day after I and a friend who had already tried to intervene once before, had finally convinced her to stop. We keep a close eye on her still, even though she told me the second I had put the pieces together that she would of never killed herself. She just wanted to remind herself that she was alive.

Mr. Jay Asher, I think that all schools should high recommend if not make it mandatory to read your book. It was a much-needed wake-up call for me.
Thank you, so very much for it. It taught me things I will never forget, as long as I live.

Sincerely,

E.