Why a Booktrail?
Timeless – Remember the fun days of having a penfriend from a whole other country?
A Pen Pal for Max
What you need to know before your trail
One day Max, a little boy in Chile, who lives and works on a fruit farm dreams of faraway lands and places he’ll probably never see. Where does the fruit go when it leaves the farm? for example. This boy never stops wondering and so decides to find out by slipping a note into a box of grapes headed to the USA.
Maggie in the USA finds the note and the two become penfriends. But then an earthquake hits Chile and Maggie is worried and so she and her class think about what they can do to help.
Travel Guide
This little boy from Chile has a big dream and a secret wish to travel and see places from beyond his farm. A note in a crate of grapes has the desired effect and when it ends up in the hands of an American girl, the real journey has only just begun –
The exact places where Max and Maggie live are not clear although the city as Maggie’s backdrop and the farm as Max’s are clearly illustrated. Two very different cultures and two very different worlds.
Despite the obstacles of language and culture, not to mention distance, the two become great friends. When the earthquake hits, Maggie and her class friends send a box of games, toys and games incase Max’s toys have been destroyed or lost. Learning about such a disaster and then reaching out by wanting to replace the toys, clothes and things he and his family may have lost is heartwarming.
The lost art of penpals writing letters to each other is the real charm of the story.
Where Next?
