Dear Author: Students Write About the Books That Changed Their Lives

A collection of letters from students to an assortment of authors both past and present about the impact of their work on the lives of their readers

Grade 5-9?A selection of letters culled from a contest sponsored annually by Weekly Reader's Read magazine. For the purposes of the contest, readers in grades 6-10 were invited to "tell" an author, living or dead, how their book affected their lives. The 75 letters here have been divided into five broad categories: overcoming difficulties, the power of conviction, self-discovery, war, and lifelong inspiration. The distinctions between some of these categories, however, are not completely clear. Each letter is preceded by a brief introduction to the author. The letters vary as to how much they reveal about the letter-writers and the authors. A wide spectrum of writers, from Judy Blume to Upton Sinclair, is included. While some of the entries refer to single books by a relatively unknown or obscure writer, in most cases the choices are likely to be familiar to most students. The hyperbole of the subtitle is unfortunate, since while most of the letters reflect the writer's sentiments and intense feelings about the book, only a few declare or even intimate that it "changed their lives." Nevertheless, the letters themselves are well written, thought-provoking, and likely to stimulate curiosity about the titles mentioned. Teachers could use this collection to help motivate their students or to use as examples of letter-writing. Whether or not children are likely to pick it up on their own is another question.?Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dear Author: Students Write About the Books That Changed Their Lives, introduced by Lois Lowry, contains 75 of the more than 20,000 letters submitted to Read magazine's "Letters About Literature" contest for junior high and high school students. "I was angry with you for making me face the truth," a daughter of divorced parents writes to Judy Blume; "If you really are Holden Caulfield," a girl writes to J.D. Salinger, "you are not only a famous literary character, you are my hero"; "Niccolo," a boy tells Machiavelli, "I believe your views are right, and that is exactly why I cannot become what you were, a politician" (Conari, dist. by Publishers Group West, paper $9.95, 204p ISBN 1-57324-013-3 Sept.).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5^-9. A welcome change from the curriculum requirement of dutiful letters to authors, this collection of prizewinning YA letters never even mentions that generic question, Where do you get your ideas? These students write with wit and candor about themselves and the books. "You don't know this yet, but you're a good friend of mine," a 13-year-old girl writes to Madeleine L'Engle, and Lois Lowry points out in her introduction that there are both privacy and distance in writing about yourself to an author. Many students speak of direct inspiration (as when a disabled girl writes to Helen Keller), but some talk about how a book has left them disturbed and shaken ("Usually I read a book two or three times but I was so upset by The Giver that I returned it to the library the very next day" ). Some of the best letters are to dead authors, including Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Frank, and Machiavelli ("Niccolo, I believe your views in this book are right, and that is exactly why I cannot become what you were, a politician" ). The collection is drawn from an annual national essay contest cosponsored by The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress and by Read, a literary magazine. A free teacher's guide is available. Hazel Rochman