Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing and Life

Hope in the Mail is about Wendelin Van Draanen, the writer of the book, and how she became an author. From coming up with the source of your book to publishing it. Wendelin Van Draanen is an author of thirty books, including a book which was converted to a film, Flipped. Hope in the Mail gives advice for young writers on how to create good characters, a good plot, and how not to give up hope. It also contains backstory to how she came up with the plot for each of her books, like how her Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy was dedicated to a homeless woman she met once, or how her first book she wrote was about revenge on the arsonist who burned down her family’s business.
I absolutely loved Hope in the Mail. I had started to write my own stories and it helped a lot on how I should construct it. It also helped with constructing a non-boring plot. It’s definitely a book I would read over and over again. Also, it was cool to learn where the stories I have read came from and how she used her life to develop them. I would recommend Hope in the Mail to kids and teens, around nine to fourteen, who are interested in writing or are writing their own book.