My Buddy Wrote Me A Letter! Herman's Letter by Tom Percival

DEAR HERMAN,

HOW ARE YOU? MY NEW HOME IS OKAY, BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME WITHOUT YOU.

THE WEATHER IS NICE AND SUNNY AND I HAVE MADE SOME NEW FRIENDS.

IN FACT, THEY HAVE JUST COME OVER!

GOTTA RUN!

YOUR BEST FRIEND,
HENRY

Herman and Henry had been friends forever. They spent all their time together, playing pirate in their treehouse or concocting secret codes and a secret handshake for their hidden clubhouse. When Henry has to move far, far away, the two old friends promise to write each other faithfully.

Herman is happy to find Henry's first letter in his mailbox, but when he opens it, what he reads makes him even sadder. Henry, it seems, has a new life and new friends, while he is just moping alone. He knows he should write back to Henry, but what is there is say? He has no new friends and no fun to report. Miserable, he puts off answering that letter. Finally, he gets another letter from Henry.

DEAR HERMAN,

GUESS WHAT?

I HAD A RIDE IN A HOT-AIR BALLOON! I WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THERE.

I HAVEN'T RECEIVED ANY OF YOUR LETTERS. I MISS YOU SO MUCH!

YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD. I HOPE YOU WILL VISIT SOON.

Herman is filled with hope. Henry is still his best friend! He sits right down and writes that letter to Henry, but when he hustles through the snow to mail it, he finds that the Post Office is closed for the winter. Although his hibernation time is fast approaching, Herman realizes that he must deliver the letter to Henry himself.

Growing sleepier and sleepier, Herman sets out. He crosses frozen rivers, only to find himself facing a climb up a very tall mountain.

"OH, BOTHER!"

Will Herman hand deliver his letter before hibernation sets in? Will the best friends be reunited? In Tom Percival's Herman's Letter (Bloomsbury, 2014), there's some suspense as Herman fights his way over frosty hill and dale, crevasse and cliff, but the main fun in that this story is told through the best friends' letters. Many kids have lost a best friend to a move, and readers need only to lift the flap of the carefully addressed brown envelopes to know what's going on in the best friends' minds. Along with Percival's appealing illustrations, the epistolary picture book has a lot of emotional and interactive appeal for young readers not to mention a curriculum tie-in for kids just learning how to write a friendly letter for themselves.