Dear Margret Peterson Haddix,

I have learned plenty from you this year. I have read all of your Shadow Children Series in my life and I’m attached to your books. They make me want to keep reading on and on until I reach the next book. These books have taught me what happens and can happen to children who are born illegally in other countries. In your books, you talk about the illegal third children who are murdered because the food supply is scarce and that has taught me to know how blessed I am. I know that there are a lot of people suffering in this world and you books taught me that I can do something to help those people.
In your writing, you explain everything and make it suspenseful, it makes your books seem like chocolate, so good and addictive. That is why you are my favorite author.

This year I wrote a memoir about my dogs, and two poems. One of the poems was about my aunt, and the other poem was about a sunroof and what I see out of it. I also wrote an extended metaphor about Chuck Norris. The most meaningful piece to me this year was probably my sunroof poem, because it involved what I see of the sky. It also was my most meaningful piece because it is in my dad’s truck and I like going places with him.
I have improved a little this year in writing and have learned a lot of elements used to make my writing better. My writing sounds as it was a rough draft of your final copy. I try to write with the elements and strategies that you use, like planning, and revising, trying to perfect my writing. This year I accomplished expressing my feelings through writing, and make it sound better when I put emotion in it. The audience that was reading my writing this year reacted well, and thought that I have improved in writing. Even though I don’t like to write I still like this quote “I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off,” written by Matt Groening. I know that I don’t like writing now but I know it will eventually pay off in the end, because who knows I might grow up to be an author of a multi millionaire book series, I hardly doubt that but it’s possible.
I see writing as a never ending chain, the new things you learn about writing just adds another link on your writing ability chain. You can always learn more than you already know so I’m learning a lot more each year. We did a lot of vocabulary in language arts this year and my dictionary for writing has increased drastically. I now know what lackadaisical, and dub means, and plenty more. I still don’t favor writing but I’m still trying to write better pieces and improve disadvantages I have in writing and make them sound as if I didn’t even write them.

In a book that I read, called The Giver, there were no books. I’ve been thinking, “What would life be without books, or even without writing?” I think that we would be in chaos; if we didn’t have writing we would have no important documents, or in that case no books. It would be the Dark Age that we will never come out of, no reading, no writing, no authors, or poets, anything, think about it.
Sincerely,
C.W.E