A joint project of the United States Postal Service and the National Council of Teachers of English, this book provides ideas and activities to help students in grades 4 through 8 get into the letter writing habit. Section 1 stresses the joy of writing letters to friends, relatives, pen pals, and celebrities. The second section describes letters that get results, such as those asking for information, to the editor, to radio and television stations, to business, and to government (up to and including the president). Ways to personalize stationery, the uses of postcards and greeting cards, and making your own envelopes are covered in section 3. Section 4 describes ways to use letters for fun, including playing games by mail, sending people poetry and stories, team writing with friends, artistic embellishment of envelopes, writing with invisible ink, writing for others who cannot, diary letters, and stamp collecting. The standard ways to address envelopes, postcards, and packages are promoted in the fifth chapter, which also explains zip codes and lists state and other common abbreviations. The final chapter recounts how a letter from an 11-year-old changed Abraham Lincoln's face. (JL)
