Dear Elsa

In this children’s chapter book, award-winning poet and teacher Marco Fraticelli tells the story of two fifth graders, Leo and Elsa, who are assigned to be email pen pals as part of a school assignment. While the two initially butt heads with Leo insisting he does not want to write to a girl and Elsa finding his sexism understandably frustrating, gradually their hostilities wane, and the two bond through their correspondence. Leo reveals he has recently moved from Montreal to Toronto and is experiencing bullying at his new school in addition to difficulty enjoying the activities he previously loved, like drumming in the school band. Elsa shares her own vulnerabilities, from struggling with spina bifida and requiring a wheelchair to get around to calming tensions between her divorced parents.

Despite their differences, the two realize how much they ultimately have in common and continually share jokes over obscure words found in the thesaurus to replace words they’re not allowed to say, words such as “dumb” and “stupid”, as well as the rules of writing haikus, a form of poetry which Leo eventually becomes very adept at writing. As their correspondence continues, each email’s postscripts get longer and more humorous as the two become more and more comfortable with each other, eventually becoming true friends.

Dear Elsa is told entirely through the emails the two children send to each other, with the emails generally not being more than a page in length. With this framing device, Fraticelli keeps the pace of the story moving at a steady clip as readers feel like they’re witnessing a constant conversation where more and more of each character’s personality is revealed over time. Young readers will also be able to relate to both Leo and Elsa’s struggles with school, living up to the expectations of parents and teachers and the difficulty of making new friends. Following the story, Fraticelli also includes an instruction sheet on writing haiku.