But when Abby's first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, the teacher takes it to the village leaders. Everyone agrees that any letters going back to America must be written well in English, and only qualified student is a boy is Sadeed Sadeed Bayat. Except in this village, it is not proper for a boy to correspond with a girl. So Sadeed’s younger sister will write the letters. Except it is hard for Amira to write in English so Sadeed is actully

writing them. As letters flow back and forth—between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Asia, across cultural and religious divides, through the minefields of different lifestyles and traditions. In just a few short weeks, they make important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and most of all, about themselves.