What Have I Read Lately?

Today, I finished a beautiful story that my husband's grandmother gifted to my oldest son for his birthday a few years back.  It was lost in his bedroom, only to surface when he was forced to clean everything - including the back of the closet and all other "black holes" that exist in a pre-teen bedroom!    He brings this down to me and asks where he should put it, knowing that I would absolutely DIE if he just got rid of it or put it back in a drawer somewhere where it could never be enjoyed by others, and I snatched it up as future reading material! I expected it to be a sweet story because Grams shares a special bond with Jaydon around books - she has since he was small.  I curled up on the couch that night and readied myself for an adventure through this book.  I read through most of it that evening, enjoying every page, and picked it back up today to read the final five pages.  It ended in the same sweet way that it began, a sweet and moving story between a writer and a reader!

 I love this book for so many reasons!  First, it is a beautiful way to illustrate the relationship between writers and readers - there is a direct line of communication, a pure conversation, that exists in this relationship and this book.  Walter, a rat that devours any literature he can get his tiny paws onto, has begun living in the Long Island home of Miss Amanda Pomeroy.  Miss Pomeroy is an old lady that is that does little more than write books and stay inside her home by herself, no family that is mentioned throughout the entire story.  Walter and Miss Pomeroy develop a very unique relationship through letters and small gifts that they leave for one another, each making an impact on the life of the other in an unexpected yet heartwarming manner! 

When trying to teach students about fantasy, about various literary elements, or just simply trying to give them something to connect to when teaching them how literature is a direct line of communication between a writer and a reader, this book is it!!!! So cute, a new favorite in my literature collection!