Dear Pen Pal letters-Getting to Know You

Dear Pen Pal starts with an interesting idea. Instead of telling the story of how Joe and Cate became pen pals, I'll let them tell you. These are some of their first letters to each other when they are first made partners.
This will begin a many year correspondence between them.
Let's go to the beginning.
This is the first part of Dear Pen Pal and this little peek is free to you blog followers. Thank you for your support.
Here is the link to see the book on Amazon or purchase a copy. Your reviews are always welcome.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006Z0KS2E?keywords=Dear%20Pen%20pal&qid=1444478001&ref_=sr_1_3&s=books&sr=1-3

September 20, 1979

Dear Pen Pal,

I never met you. My teacher told me to write. My teacher says these letters are going to Canton, Ohio. I don’t know how our teachers made this deal to make us pen pals, but here’s my letter. 

Do you like baseball? Do you like the Jaycees? They are a minor league team here. I like them more than the major league teams. When I play baseball when I grow up, I want to play for the Jaycees. I play right field in little league. 

My Dad said you have other baseball teams where you are. Do you play baseball? A lot of guys here play soccer. It’s fun but everyone kicks me in the shins and knees. I hurt my knee playing last week. I bled so much you can still see it on my pants. 

Do you watch the same TV shows as me? Do you listen to music?

I live in Staten Island New York. It’s by the Atlantic Ocean. I live in a house with my father and my mother. I’m nine years old. I have a lot of friends from baseball and school.  

I guess we have to write each other all school year so we could write about baseball. We get graded if we write all year so we have to have something to write about. 

Your pen pal,

Joe

October 1, 1979

Dear Joe, 

My teacher picked you out of a big bag of letters. She put all the letters from Staten Island, New York in a big bag and gave them out to everyone. I don’t know anything about baseball so I don’t know what the Jaycees are. My brother watches baseball and he said the Jaycees won’t win the division. Whatever that means. 

I roller skate. I have to wear kneepads to save my knees. My Mom says I can’t hurt my knees because I wear skirts at school. Boys never wear pads. You have to look cool in front of everyone. It gets hot when I wear all those pads and skate. 

I play a lot of different games when I’m in school. You should see all the dolls I have at home. I have stuffed rabbit doll and a baby doll and a Playtime Suzy doll and a lot of other stuff. I have a dollhouse that’s almost as big as me. 

My Dad says I should tell you about myself. I’m eight years old. My birthday is in a couple of days. I have straight brown hair and I have a couple of freckles. I get pretty good grades in school, but my Mom and Dad said I should get better grades. A lot of my friends get money for A’s. My parents don’t give me money. They don’t give my brother money. 

I watch TV, but I don’t know what you watch. 

My teacher says we’re going to write every month so we have to find something to write about. I have a diary that I write in too. I can fill up a page really quick, I can’t tell you all the secrets I put in my diary. I think my teacher wants to read this before we send it. If she don’t read this, maybe we can tell secrets to each other. 

We are like a thousand miles away from each other. I’m going to put some of this in my diary tonight so I remember when I wrote you. 

Your pen pal,

Cate

October 11, 1979

Dear Cate,

You’re a girl! I can’t believe they gave my letter to a girl. I don’t know what to write to a girl about. I don’t talk to girls where I live. My Mom said I should still write to you even though my teacher said she wouldn’t read this. I could just show my teacher an empty envelope and get away with it. My Mom said it might be fun to talk to you, but she doesn’t want to write you. 

I don’t want to tell you any secrets. I don’t know you. I’ve never seen you. Why do girls tell secrets and pass notes in school anyway? The only secrets I could tell you are about school and you don’t know anyone here.

Tell your brother the Jaycees are winning the division now. They won games all summer. I didn’t get to see them because my Mom doesn’t like baseball and my Dad has to work a lot of late nights. I play soccer in the afternoons after school now. My knees are all scraped up. I scored two goals for my team yesterday.

Three letters sent and already they are surprised that they of all people got partnered. They also fight with each other. The pen pal assignment is going to interesting!