To Obama

I gobbled this book up! The act of letter writing is so powerful and this book does an amazing job highlighting the importance of everyday Americans who sat down to write or type a letter to Barack Obama while he was in office. While president, Obama averaged 10,000 letters a day, and employees in the correspondence office would select ten letters for Obama to read at the end of every day. The letters weren't all positive; some were critical, some had suggestions, some were from from kids, some wanted to see something to get done, but they were all powerful. Some of the letters moved me to tears or made me laugh out loud. Some were even so elegant it made me jealous of the author's writing prowess. Author, Laskas includes a sampling of letters and in between, her chapters highlight how the correspondence office operated, the back story/interviews conducted with some of the letter writers, and some wonderful insight on how and why the letters that Obama received helped him shape policy and speeches and how they were truly representative of the American people. It's a wonderful book.