Amaleigha Makes a New Friend by Janice Pratt – Review by Moriah Venable

Amaleigha Makes a New Friend by Janice Pratt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amaleigha is given the opportunity to write to children in other countries by her teacher, Mr Bowles.

Before they are able to write to children in Ukraine, they learn more about the country, such as it is the second largest European country.

After learning a bit about the country, Amaleigha is excited to write to her pen pal to ask them questions about the country!

The day arrives where she is finally able to write to her pen pal! Mr. Bowles passes out notecards with names and Amaleigha writes to Vova. She tells him about her family, where she goes to school and even her favorite food.

They wait for the responses and sometime later, Amaleigha receives hers. Vova tells Amaleigha that they are learning about America in school and reading books by Ukrainian authors. He also explains about his daily life and that he may want to be an artist.

Reading this made me wish that we had done something similar to this when I was in school. It seems like a great way to discover more about a different country and how other people live.
In one correspondence, Amaleigha and other students read a letter that mentions war with Russia which causes the students to be worried about their pen pals and the people of Ukraine.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a short read. It was a lot more descriptive and an emotional roller coaster than I thought.

I learned a lot about Ukraine. War is scary and just because war is not happening around someone, doesn’t mean one shouldn’t stay informed or finds ways to help.

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