Writing Letters - World Letter Writing Day

A Lost Art - Writing Letters
Sept 1 - or December 7 (or any day in-between)

Grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and neighbors enjoy receiving letters.  Make any letter writing assignment authentic.  World Letter Writing Day or short WLWD, is observed on September 01 and in the USA letter writing day is observed on December 7 or each year.  So take your pick -- join in the fun and write a letter today.

Many educators choose to ask their students to write letters to authors or illustrators of their favorite books. Here are some hints.

 Writing Letters to Authors

In an effort to keep letter-writing alive, a standard and often used activity for classrooms is to ask students to write letters to an author.  The assignment, I suppose, is meant to provide a "real world" audience for the letter writing and to provide practice in the art of letter writing.

Sites such as Reading Rockets have articles about letter writing ("How to Write to an Author" by Mary Amato [online] http://www.readingrockets.org/article/24612/) and most include some type of comment as Amato does: "You can find a lot of information about authors on the computer. But nothing beats writing a real letter to a real author. If you write an author, you need to send your letter to the writer "in care of" his or her publisher."

This comment (and similar ones) assume that the author will provide information about him or herself.  I remember a comment made by Katherine Paterson years ago when she was a guest on a Scholastic forum where students could post questions for her to answer throughout a period of time.  She graciously responded to each question but after a time she admonished her readers that being able to write a letter or ask a question of an author should not replace a well-planned research visit to the library.  Inundated with questions of the quality of "How many books have you written?" "What was your first book?" "Have you won any awards?" she pointed the young readers / writers (and their teacher) to the proper place to find those often asked questions — the library. Today the library still serves as a storehouse of knowledge about authors.  There are reference books that feature contemporary authors (including some that I have authored).  In addition many authors have their own dedicated websites.

When Beverly Cleary was actively writing (and speaking), in the early 1980s, she delivered a speech in Des Moines, Iowa in which she admonished those who would  assign an entire class to write letters to an author.  After all, she asked the educators, should she be writing books or answering letters.   She was clearly irritated at being inundated with the same type of questions that Katherine Paterson received.  I have always thought the situation relatively humorous in that just a couple of years later (1984) she actually won the Newbery Award for Dear Mr. Henshaw (HarperCollins, 1983).  Dear Mr. Henshaw featured a sixth grade boy who corresponds with his favorite author.

But Beverly Cleary did not speak for all authors.  At that same conference Arnold Lobel was also a speaker.  He followed Cleary's presentation by a couple of hours, and during the course of his remarks he said that at one time he regarded receiving letters from fans as somewhat of a chore, especially when he received a set of class letters all asking the same thing.  But then he said, "I thought about the letters again, and realized that the class could have written any other author but they choose ME." 

But there is no doubt that answering letters is a time-consuming task.  In addition to reading the same questions over and over some authors simply do not have the time.  At one time Penguin Group publishers had a website providing information about Tomie dePaola and they stated: "He receives nearly 100,000 fan letters each year."  Imagine just opening 100,000 letters a year.  That is an average of 274 letters a day--every day of the year.  Suffice it to say that dePaola would simply not have enough time in the day to do that - and certainly not time enough to do that and continue writing and illustrating as well.  Despite that dePaola used to provide a mailing address for contacting him on his website and he also posted a letter to "Dear Friend," saying that he loves to receive mail and answers as many letters as he can but it sometimes takes him a long, long time to send replies. He no longer does that as answering letters is so time consuming.  He has an assistant who helps him with his personal and professional tasks around the office and his studio, so he can concentrate on his artistic endeavors.
In addition, it is no longer a standard to send letters via the publisher.  In times past, an author often published with one publisher throughout his/her career.  Now it is more common that an author will have several publishers. Deciding which publisher to send the author letter would be another question.  Sometimes a letter goes from one publisher to another before being sent on to the author.  Often letters are not forwarded individually from a publisher but stockpiled and sent in a package when enough accumulate - providing for yet more delay.  Many other authors, on their websites, provide preferred mailing addresses for the receipt of letters. If you do want to send a letter, check the author's website for an address.  Sometimes the author much prefers an e-mail and actually has a e-mail address established for just that purpose.  Some authors find it much more efficient to quickly reply to an e-mail than to actually take out paper and pencil to write a letter, put it in an envelope, and get it sent.  Hopefully the writer has enclosed a self-addressed, stamped envelope.  If Tomie dePaola actually had to buy stamps to reply to those 100,000 letters he would expend over $50,000 just in postage stamps alone.

Many authors do not receive as many letters and many of those strive to respond to each and every letter (or at least class).  It is still time consuming and many still prefer e-mail.  So here are some suggestions for teaching the form of letter writing, providing a real audience for letters, and for learning about authors and their books.

 Q & A's - Writing Letters to an Author

Q.  Is it okay for the entire class to write an author a letter?
A.  While it is okay - consider this first.  If the entire class is focusing on one author as a class read consider using this opportunity to model the art of letter writing.  Using large chart paper or a white board, overhead and so forth write a class letter to the author.  It is a great time to review what you already know about the author.  Discuss what you might like to know, discover if that information is already available (here's where that planned research visit to the library comes into play), and identify what information we want to share with the author.   Writing the letter as a collaborative effort affords a great opportunity to model the process of letter writing, word choice, mechanics of writing, revision, and all other aspects of the process.  At the end of the session, ask for a volunteer to copy the class letter in the best of handwriting and prepare the letter to be put in a flat envelope for sending.  Always include a self-addressed and stamped envelope for a possible response.

But if you are determined to have each student write a letter to be sent via U.S. mail please send all letters together and unfolded in a larger mailing envelope. Please include a self-addressed and stamped envelope if you wish to receive a response.

Q. What is appropriate to ask in a letter?
A.  If this exercise is truly an educational experience one must be also be willing to teach proper etiquette for letter writing.   Here are a few dos and don'ts.

• Do be respectful.  One would not send Grandma a letter telling her what was wrong with her Thanksgiving dinner and never should readers think they should write an author to tell him/her about what is wrong with his/her book.   EXCEPTION: If there is a definite error in a book, perhaps it is okay to point out that the pronoun "her" does not match  the brilliant plummage of the quetzal in David Wisniewski's Rain Player (Clarion, 1995).  Or that the prime number answer in Jon Scieszka's Math Curse (Viking, 1995) needed revising.  After a reader wrote Scieszka the answer was revised.
• Do ask legitimate questions. Before Bill Peet's death, one class of first graders read Bill Peet's Whingdingdilly and then watched a video where he gave the number of animals that made up the Whingdingdilly.  The class could name all but one of the animals.  In desperation they wrote Bill Peet a note asking for the final animal's name.  Of course it was Scamp whose dog brain and eyes still resided in the Whingdingdilly's head.  Bill Peet did send a postcard providing the answer.
• Do enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope.  Understand that an author may not be able to answer all letters but including a self-addressed stamped envelope will help if the author is able to send a response.
• Do proofread the letters.  Letters sent to an author should be proofread and corrected for mechanics of writing, and edited for content.  This is not a time to be content with a first draft.
• Do NOT ask for free books or other things of value.  Authors are not charities.  They have to buy their own books and do not have unlimited supplies.  Just like all other individuals they must budget their charitable contributions.  Each contribution requires time and money.  Your charity might be a wonderful cause but there are hundreds of worthy campaigns and authors likely have their own choices of charities.
• Do NOT ask the author to write YOUR homework assignment 

Q. How do I find an author's address?
A.  The very best way is to check the author's website.  Use the address the author gives you.  If there is not an address on the website but an e-mail contact, the educator might write a brief e-mail inquiring regarding preference for letters or e-mails and if letters are acceptable requesting the best address to send the letters.  Lacking either of these two, do send a letter in care of the author's latest publisher.
 

Do authors enjoy receiving letters - absolutely.  What author would not like to know that their books are being read and enjoyed by readers?  However, be courteous, respectful, and sincere.  And educators - please use any writing suggestion as an opportunity to teach etiquette, and politeness.

But don't forget grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and neighbors.