Summer '17 Book 10

I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifrenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch

I was introduced to this book during a book talk that one of the instructional specialists presented in a readers writers workshop class I took. As she was discussing the book, I was moved, so I bought it. This is nonfiction, which is not something I usually read, unless it's one of the Tudor biographies I enjoy. This doesn't read like typical nonfiction though; it reads like a novel.

As the title implies, this is written by two people, Caitlin and Martin, who are introduced as young teens through a classroom penpal project. Caitlin lives in Pennsylvania and Martin lives in Zimbabwe, and come from very different worlds. As to be expected, Martin's family is not well off. Their family of seven lives in half of a one room hut. The kids each have one school uniform apiece and one outfit apiece. Caitlin comes from a middle class family, so going to the mall and buying more clothes than one actually need is the norm.

Over the course of their correspondence, Caitlin discovers just how bad things are for Martin. He was kicked out of school a couple of times because his family couldn't pay his tuition, which was only about $20 of American money. Caitlin and her family became his family's benefactors so that the children were all able to go to school, eat, stay in their hut, and not have to worry so much about surviving.

On Caitlin's side, the correspondence gave her more empathy about people in other parts of the world, as well as here in the States. As she and her family help Martin and his family, you can see how she grows more aware of the world, which is something more young people need these days.

I so enjoyed this book. There were several times that I was brought nearly to tears, both tears of sadness and tears of joy.