Reading Pen Pals can hook you up with a great book to read AND a pen pal to write to about it.

Kids  |  Adults
Classroom and Home School Teachers

Kids: Click Books or Authors to find our book reviews. Click Pen Pals to read about the people who write our reviews. If you want to write back to a pen pal, email us at the link provided at each book review. We'll pass your comments on to your reading pen pal and then send you any response we get from him/her. (To protect everyone's privacy we only use first names and we won't send any email addresses along with messages.)

Adults: Become a reading pen pal!

1. Choose a book you love.
Something you’ve read to your children … the best book you read in high school … a book you’ve heard kids talking about that made you curious: any book that you think a reader (up to grade 12) might enjoy.

2. Write a “Dear Reader” letter.
Without giving too much of the plot away, let kids know why you enjoy the book. Ask a few open-ended questions about readers’ reactions to the characters or author or story, or other subjects related to the book. When you're done, send your pen pal letter to us at mailbox@readingpenpals.com.

3. Become a Reading Pen Pal.
When a child chooses to read the book you recommended, s/he’ll send us a response to your letter, which we’ll forward to you. We ask only that you send us one response. Some reading pen pals maintain a correspondence for several months; others limit themselves to one personalized response.

When you do send a “Dear Reader” letter, we’ll ask for a brief bio that we can put on-line. To maintain anonymity, only first names of reading pen pals will appear on the site and e-mail addresses will not be shared. In two to four sentences, tell your readers and potential pen pals what you think they might like to know about you. You might include something about the types of books you like to read, a bit about your profession and/or interests, and something about your relationships with children. Use the third person.

Classroom and Home School Teachers: Use this site to help your students choose books to read and to get them writing about those books! For ideas about how to incorporate Reading Pen Pals into your classroom, click the teachers link.

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