I want my 11 year old daughter to read this!

Caitlin is a typical American girl in the late 1990s, and she wants a pen pal from the cool-sounding country of Zimbabwe. Martin is poor, poorer than any American can imagine. Martin and Caitlin begin a life-long friendship through their letters, ultimately helping him and his family to a better life.

Caitlin’s mother is awesome! Caitlin is awesome! Not much is said about her dad, though, so I do wonder about his role or if he divorced her mom.

I give it 5 stars because it will easily change your perspective about the world.

I wish so much of the book wasn’t the white people using their white privilege to help the black person. I mean, it’s great that they did. That’s not what I’m saying. A few times I felt uncomfortable because it seems to imply that if the white family hadn’t come along to “save” him, this poor black man wouldn’t have ever made it. It could certainly be true, but it seems to take away the agency from this incredibly determined man. Again, a slight quibble that didn’t change my rating.