I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifrenka, Liz Welch, Martin Ganda is a memoir that recounts the perspective of two teens, linked through penpal letters of family, love, and connection as shape their futures. Within this autobiographical novel, the authors’ experiences surface human connection can happen no matter wherever people live.
In 1997, Caitlin, a bright girl living in Pennsylvania is given an assignment in her English class to penpal with a foreigner in another country. On the other side of the globe is Martin, a studious boy her age who receives her letter intrigued with curiosity over what America is like. Through writing each other letters, readers learn that small contributions make a difference as Caitlin lives a middle-class average life and Martin’s family struggles to have supported finances to keep him in school. They grow to become best of friends, reassuring each other hard times help growth even when far apart.
The book provides readers a sense of vulnerability and insight into poverty as the two friends guide each other to gain perspective on the world’s global events such as the infamous September 11 terrorist attacks on America and Zimbabwe’s first recorded famine in 2004. Within testing the limits of friendship, the effortless details that put readers into view make the events feel realistic and more understandable.
The sentimental novel provides me a sense of empowerment to help others when they need help. Caitlin and Martin’s endearing personalities that intertwine each other remind me of how I met my middle-school friends that I care about deeply to this day. Although one is committed to helping and one is hanging on life to survive, they are like two magnets pulled together through writing. When reading, the novel taught me the value of how writing is still accessible through our hands- physically or digitally.
As Caitlin asks readers, “kindness is contagious and changes lives, what will it do for you?,” the message and impact it takes call them to action. The authors’ life-altering actions are surely an influential motive for all people no matter what race, background, or age to start putting kindness into their lives.
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