Dear Soldier
by Barbara Warfield Baldwin
Published by Thomas Nelson
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Reviewed by Jamie Driggers
Subtitled: Heartfelt Letters from America’s Children
“I pray for you every night before I go to bed.”
While volunteering to assemble care packages for our troops serving in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, Barbara Warfield Baldwin and her daughters came across heartfelt and compelling letters to the troops from local children that served to brighten the Baldwins’ days. Dear Soldier is the compilation of many of these letters and pictures.
Meant to uplift the troops’ spirits as well as boost the morale of the general public, Dear Soldier will have you reading out loud to whomever is in the room. The honesty and sincerity of kids is great. With phrases like “I hope that yall find that Osama Bin ladin,” and “My brother says that he wants to be in the war. I’m thinking I might join him,” you can see why these letters mean so much to our troops. And with lines like, “you might think I’m stupid but I made it to forth grade so I make A’s and B’s, so there,” you can’t help but laugh and share.
These letters and drawings are photocopied so you don’t only get to read them, but see the handwriting and erase marks. Seeing what is important to the children as they were writing is precious. My primary criticism is that for some reason a couple of letters were repeated in the compilation. But don’t let that sway you.
Armchair Interviews says: This is a great book to give as a gift, especially to our serving troops.