Meena is a recent immigrant from India who has just joined her family after being raised by her grandmother. River is a young man in Kentucky whose coal mining father is working far from home because the mine has closed. He lives with his mother and grandmother. By chance, they become pen pals...
Candlewick Press and Net Galley let me have an ebook of this story to read for review (thank you). It's being published on Valentine's Day.
The reason I chose this story is because I still have a pen pal. I began writing to her at sixteen. I lived in Washington and she lived in Texas. Our letters are fewer and farther between, but we're still good friends. We've also visited several times.
Meena is in New York with her mother and brother and her father works aways as River's father does. Their backgrounds are different as well as their cultures. The best part of the story is that they learn things about life, about each other, and pledge to be honest with each other. This results in some misunderstandings, but they apologize and move forward. They each become stronger by sharing and discussing differences.
There has to be another book coming. I can't believe the authors have ended this one as they did without thinking about continuing their story. There is a lot of adventure left yet for these two young pen pals.
The story is written in letter form and it took me right back to my own pen pal days. I lived for her letters. Why not introduce your child to how much fun it can be to have a pen pal? Letters make you think and teach you how to write. They can also show you how different and how similar all people are.
Happy reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment