Penpal

The novel flashes back to one year earlier. The narrator is sorted into a kindergarten learning group intended to foster the students’ sense of community. The group’s hallmark activity is called the Balloon Project. Each student writes a note to a stranger, ties it to a balloon, and releases the balloon in the hopes of getting a response. The note requests that the recipient include a photograph of their area and their return address so that the students can write to them as pen pals.

The narrator draws a stick figure with a balloon on his introductory letter and includes a dollar, marking it “FOR STAMPS” so that his pen pal can write him back. Writing the final draft of his letter takes time since he has a broken arm. After he finishes, he goes to talk to Josh, but when he returns to his desk, he finds his letter ruined, and someone apparently dried a paintbrush near his desk. This upsets the narrator, who doesn’t think his pen pal will understand the letter anymore. The teacher calls everyone to take pictures that they can enclose with their letter, along with the mailing address of the school. The collective joy of his class consoles the narrator, and he becomes hopeful about his potential correspondence.