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Editor's Note: Powell's is pleased to welcome the pint-sized contributors of Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama to our blog for the next month! Ranging in age from 6 to 14, the kids are all students of 826 National —
a non-profit literacy organization, founded in part by Dave Eggers, with seven chapters countrywide. The book is a compilation of letters written to President Obama shortly after he was elected. We'll be presenting the original letters that were published in the book, plus some updates from our mini-pundits on how our new president is measuring up so far. Get a copy of Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country at 30% off for a limited time.]
Original letter:
Dear President Obama,
You should make a three-day weekend. Give the homeless a home. Make renting less money. Let people have free pets. Make a free-money day.
Sincerely,
Emily Morales, age 10, San Francisco
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Emily writes for Powells.com:
I think the president is doing a good job right now. He's the first black president. He likes to play basketball and I love basketball, too. Obama's daughters seem really fun and creative. I would like to be their sister. I would like to meet them. I heard about the Obama book on the radio. I heard the stories from the other kids. I thought they were really cool.
About my letter, a ton of people need to work really hard, so maybe they should have a day off, a day off so that they could relax and have peace. It's sad that people don't have homes, that when it's raining or really cold they need to sleep just with a blanket that they find on the streets. Pets are fun. And once a month, someone doesn't need to waste all of their money. They can save it for something important. And they can have the free-money day to buy food and supplies without wasting the money that they will need for college.
Since the book came out, my mom showed it to my teacher. The teacher in our class read the book to our whole class. The teacher told the class to get my autograph. Everybody got in my face. I gave out 10 autographs. Also, my mom's friend bought a book for one of her friends.
With Obama as president, I feel like the environment's doing better. He's helping the country to stop fighting. Go Obama!