Genre: Informational
Age Appropriateness: Kindergarten-4th grade
Media: IStock photos, photos, and photocopies
Review/Critique:
This book contains a collection of letters of correspondence between fourth graders and First Lieutenant David Falvey.

This is an informational book in that the letters answer many questions of what a soldier does and it shows what elementary students may ask a soldier.

As the wife of a Marine whose husband served in 2 combat tours in Iraq, 1 combat tour in Afghanistan, and 3 other deployments in other countries, I decided to read this book with my 9 year old daughter. What a beautiful moment we were able to share! She and her class have also written letters to my husband while he has been away. Everything about this book was genuine, heartfelt, comical, and most importantly it captured the innocence of the children while showing just how important our love and support are to the troops while they are away. Mrs. Hutt's fourth grade class not only asked questions and sent drawings to David Falvey of the Army National Guard, but he was able to respond back to them! I would recommend this book to any child, but especially to those who live the military life. ( )

LETTERS TO A SOLDIER by David Falvey is a book about fourth graders writing letters to 1st Lieutenant David Falvey and his response to each of the students. In addition each child sent an illustration. They asked questions about his job and what it is like in Iraq. Their letters and his responses make up the book. It is organized in a chronological order from when Ms. Julie Hutt wrote to 1st Lieutenant Falvey asking if her class could write to him and to his responses and a follow up. This book would be good to read to a class who is writing to a servicemen to help them think of their own questions. It wouldn't be effective to read straight through as students may lose interest. This book does not have a bibliography but it shows the actual letters. The content is straight forward and logically ordered. The language is precise and clear in 1st Lieutenant Flavely's responses. His passion for his job is obvious. The tone is a conversational style. It is a book which helps students learn more about our armed forces and the important job they do. ( )

After reading this book, I though it was cute and provided an inside look into what soldiers go through while in Iraq. This book provided the letters written from 4th grade students to a soldier who was serving in Iraq at the time. The book also shows the lieutenant's responses to the children. The only thing I wish is that the actual letters written in the children's handwriting was shown as well as the lieutenant's letters. This is a cute book to show to elementary students. ( )

This is a good INFORMATIONAL book because it is an accurate account of the pen-pal relationship between one 4th grade American class and a soldier in Iraq. Not only does the book explain what is going on in Iraq, but it also provides pictures that portray what a soldier in Iraq sees.

Age Appropriateness: intermediate
Media: photographs/student artwork