Walker Books Australia

ISBN: 9781406379716

Imprint: Walker
October 1, 2018
Australian RRP: $24.99
New Zealand RRP: $27.99

Some might argue that letter writing is a dying skill and in one sense they could be write – oops right. But good communication is more vital than ever and teaching children to write letters of varying formats is not only an extremely useful task but enjoyable. ‘Letter’ writing was a regular focus of my classrooms – thanking other classes for their assembly presentations, inviting parents and friends to events, sending notes to classmates and so on. With so much pressure on classroom teachers these days with an increasingly overwhelming (and often superfluous) curriculum to accommodate this is one of those things that is often neglected.

When I suggested to the Year 3 teachers this term that we might work in library time on ‘letters’ they were thrilled – so was I as I had just come across all my ‘letter’ books and it would save me putting them away again!

Of course I’ve used old standard favourites such as the Jolly Postman series, I Wrote a Monster a Letter and Dear Mrs LaRue and also included the more recent Meerkat Mail. We have written invitations for playdates, greetings to favourite characters, postcards from exotic locales and persuasive letters – and the plan is to finish off with The Father Christmas Letters – and write letters to Santa (replies from Year 8).

So this delightful new addition to the collection is both timely and welcome. Alex is astounded when he discovers a dragon in the cupboard under the stairs and quickly perceives that there could well be issues with such a creature in a regular house though he is quite taken with the beast. He proceeds to send letters asking for advice from such as the fire department, the meat board and of course his best friend Hillary. Following the instructions from all the replies the dragon (and the house) is safe but it is clear that the dragon is way too big for a normal sized house so an alternative is found. The very last missive is a postcard sent by dragon post from a happy dragon in a very suitable new home.

I know my kiddos will love this and I’m very sure yours will as well whether as part of a teaching unit or just for pure fun.

Highly recommended for readers from around six years upwards.