How One Letter Changed Two Lives
by Martin Ganda (Author), Caitlin Alifirenka (Author), Liz Welch (Contributor)
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2015
400 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
The true story of an all-American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever.
It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place.
Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter. There were only ten letters, and forty kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one.
That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives.
In this compelling dual memoir, Caitlin and Martin recount how they became best friends --and better people--through their long-distance exchange. Their story will inspire you to look beyond your own life and wonder about the world at large and your place in it.
"Starred Review. Sensitively and candidly demonstrating how small actions can result in enormous change, this memoir of two families' transformation through the commitment and affection of long-distance friends will humble and inspire." - Publishers Weekly
"A useful addition to most collections and an eye-opening look at life in another culture." - School Library Journal
"A feel-good, message-driven book that may appeal to adults more than teens." - Kirkus Reviews
"This compelling story of an unlikely friendship across continents will quiet your inner skeptic and inspire you to take a chance. Moving and uplifting." -
Award-winning author and journalist Peter Godwin
This information about I Will Always Write Back was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda met as pen pals in 1997 and are still best friends today.
Liz Welch is an award-winning journalist and memoirist whose critically acclaimed first book, The Kids Are All Right, co-authored with her sister Diana Welch, won an ALA Alex Award.
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