Week of January 16, Letters to James McBride

Hi everyone,

Write a letter to James McBride. This is a formal letter, and it should be typed.  Please use the format below.  I will mail the letters to him and maybe he will write us back!  In your letter, please do the following:

Begin with a formal greeting, “Dear Mr. McBride”

Paragraph 1:    Introduce yourself, name, country of origin, grade in school, how long you’ve been in the US, and why you’re writing to him (in my ESL class, we just finished your memoir, The Color of Water)

Paragraph 2:    Tell him what the book meant to you. Tell him what you enjoyed about it and why, how it made you feel and why, and any text to self connections you made as you read. Be specific.  Refer to actual quotes from the memoir (go back to your reading logs to do this, and look at your double entry journals).

Paragraph 3:    Ask him questions you have about the book. Make sure you are respectful and only ask appropriate questions.

Then thank him for reading your letter and writing the memoir.  

Close with “Sincerely” and then print your name and sign the letter.

Layout for a formal letter:

Your name

Street Address

City, State Zip Code

Today’s date

Dear Mr. McBride,

My name is…(see above for all details from Paragraph 1).

Your memoir The Color Water meant so much to me… (see above for all details from Paragraph 2).

I have some questions about the memoir…(see above for Paragraph 3).

Thank you for your time reading my letter and for writing the memoir.

Sincerely,

Sign your name

Print your name

See my letter below for an example of what it looks like:

James McBride

PO BOX 829

NEW YORK, NY   10108

January 7, 2013

Dear Mr. McBride,

My students and I wanted to write and thank you for your incredible memoir, The Color of Water.  We thoroughly enjoyed reading it together, experiencing your history and your mother’s history, as told by you with such humor, warmth and love.

My students are all new immigrants, from over 50 different countries, and they too have had no easy childhood. They easily identify with the pain you experienced as you learned about your mother’s past.  Many of them were separated from their parents at a young age, and are only now meeting them, here in a new country, as if for the first time.  Also, many of them experience great discrimination due to their document status, race, language abilities, accents, cultural differences, and xenophobia.

I have taught your memoir many times over the years, and every time, it’s as if I’m reading it for the first time. My daughter, who is now eight, is also from parents of different races and religions (I’m Jewish and my husband is West Indian). I easily identify with your story, and can’t wait for the day when she is old enough to read it.

Please enjoy my students’ letters and thank you again for your work.

With warm sincerity,

Julie Mann, ESL teacher, Newcomers High School