The Letter

What's New

Caitlin was a girl from Pensylvania. Martin was a boy from Zimbabwe. One day, at school, Caitlin's teacher told everyone in the class about a penpal project they where going to do with kids in other countries. There was lots of countries to choose from and Caitlin choose Zimbabwe. That night, Caitlin started to write a letter to  kids in Africa . When the letter was received, not everyone in the class could have the priviledge to read it because not a lot of american students had written to Zimbabwe, only the good students had the priviledgde of reading the letter out loud. Martin ganda was one of the priviledged ones; he was the best student in his class because being a bad student was not an option for him. His mother was also the best student, but since her family was very poor, she had to leave school, now the family was also poor, but thankfully, it could afford education. Martin and Caitlin started writing letters to each other more frequently.

Hidden Messages in the Book

"My mother was  smart, but she had to drop out of school when she was twelve because her parents could not afford the fees. My parents where also poor, but at least I was still in school. I promised her that I would always work as hard as possible (Welch 15). 

Martin had a very hard life, but he always made his best effort. The author wants to show that you always have to make the best you can because there are others that can't afford what you have.

"'Mai', I said one day as my stomach groaned from hunger. 'Let's use Caitlin's money for groceries.'

She shook her head. 'That is for your future, Martin,' she said. 

'Our future is now,' I explained.

She reluctantly agreed, and then climbed on top of her bed to get the dollar from the box

 We went to  the ost office to exchange it. The teller did not even check any charts or use a calculator.

'One American dollar is twenty-four Zim dollars,' she said" (Welch 51).

In one of his messages, Martin asked Kaitlin for a us dollar to see how it looked and told her that in response he would give her one zim dollar. With one us dollar, Martin could buy food for one week.

What I learned

We have to be thankfull for what we have and make our best effort. In this case, Caitlin has helped Martin a lot and they have just met. I think that this relationship will go stronger during the book. I think Caitlin and Martin will become best friends