Deer Sylvia- Alan Cumyn

Honest, it’s how Owen spells dear! And that isn’t his only misspelling in a series of letters he writes to his dear Sylvia. Although I did not read Secret Life of Owen Skye and After Sylvia, I am imagining they are quite as delightful as this book was. A novel that is aimed at around a grade 3/4 level is nice to find. This has just the right amount of humour, true-to-life situations and a very appealing writing style making it accessible to lots of children in that age group. Owen’s Sylvia has left and has left him with a stack of stamped envelopes so he can write her letters. And write he does but never has enough courage to send them. First, he can’t decide on how to sign them- is Love, Owen, a bit too forward? Then he recognizes his problem with spelling and worries she might think less of him. Then they get wet and on and on and on! Although he obviously still sees Sylvia from time to time, he still doesn’t have the confidence he needs to mail all these letters. The ending is rather delightful. In his last letter, he says, ” So I am wrapping this box in lots of plastic and tinfoil and more plastic and I even have a metal box that Sadie found for me. I am going back to the old house. And I will bury the box by the apple tree in a spot I can’t forget because I looked at that tree all my life so far from up and down. And I will not dig them up again until we have our first child. Wherever we are in Elgin or anywhere else I will go back to the apple tree and find them for you.” Who could resist the romance of that letter? Hopefully, not Sylvia. It was fun to read something light and easy and worth recommending to my younger students. The cover is rather cute as well and drew me to the book. What more can you ask?