Journeys: Young Readers Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives

Journeys: Young Readers Letters to Authors Who Changed Their Lives           Candlewick Press      2017   226p   9.99    978-0-7636-9578-1            ms/hs             VG       

Letters from readers to authors reveal the impact of literature on young lives.           

Letters About Literature is an annual program hosted by the Center of the Book in the Library of Congress that solicits letters from students in grades four through twelve to authors that have impacted them in some way. The book is a collection of those letters arranged by age and “stages of a journey: destination, realization, and the return home” (p. xiv). The letters are very personal making connections between novels and poems to daily life, family history, bullying, escaping reality, career inspiration, race, etc. The young authors write inspiring and heart wrenching messages to the authors of the works they relate to, confessing deep feelings, fears, concerns, and connections to characters. The collection could be used in lessons for similar projects within a classroom or to encourage participation in the national program.                           Pennucci(3), Stephanie        biography, language arts