Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt 224 pages

In 1948, Tate P. Ellerbee’s teacher gives the class the assignment of writing to pen pals. The students get to pick their pen pals and Tate decides to write to Hank Williams, an up-in-coming country star. Even though Tate never gets a response from Hank, she continues to write to him. In her letters to Hank, Tate tells him of her life in Rippling Creek and of her brother, Frog, that never talks ever since their mother went to jail. The ending has a surprising twist that I never saw coming.