The Long, Long Letter

The Long, Long Letter, a book by Elizabeth Spurr, was a little bit of a let down for me.  I had read that it was a tall tale with great rhythm and rhyme from other reviewers.  I thought the tall tale was good, but found the rhythm hard to follow and inconsistent, and the rhyme to be sporadic and half-hearted at best.  It was a difficult book to read aloud.  The one redeeming factor was the message it sent, that people may be lonely and if we reach out to them we may not only better ourselves, but make their life just a little bit brighter.  The illustrations by David Catrow were a different style for him, but still helped to tell the story without needing words.  Overall I am not sure I would add this book to a library collection.