Students from the Greenwood writing and tutoring program 826 Seattle have some of their questions and advice featured in a new book addressed to First Lady Michelle Obama. “I Live Real Close to Where You Used to Live: Kids’ Letters to Michelle Obama (and to Sasha, Malia, and Bo)” will be published on Dec. 15.
Good advice is a powerful thing. It can keep you focused, help encourage you to move ahead despite bumps and bruises, and remind you there are people out there rooting for you. Children tend to be very good at giving advice because they’re living through the peak skinned-knee phase of life. Who better, then, to give advice to First Lady Michelle Obama than 826 National’s young authors?
As featured in the New York Times, I Live Real Close to Where You Used to Live (available for preorder online) features kids’ letters to the president’s wife, written during 826 workshops and after-school programs. The letters provide advice, observations and questions on everything from dealing with parents’ divorce to healthy eating habits, with a joke about blue elephants in there just in case.
To honor its students whose letters were included in the collection—including budding illustrator Renea Harris-Peterson, who designed the cover—local nonprofit 826 Seattle is holding a reading party Friday, December 10 at 7pm during Greenwood neighborhood’s Shop for a Cause event. We invite you to join us in celebrating our young authors and maybe even scratching some gifts off your holiday shopping list, all while supporting a good cause.
826 Seattle is located inside the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. at 8414 Greenwood Ave. N. They’re having a book release party from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10.
