Tyler Cooksley

Dear Christopher Paul Curtis,

Your book Elijah of Buxton changed my life and the way I looked at African Americans. I never knew what they had to go through to get to freedom. There freedom compared to ours is a big difference.

After I read your book, I knew what they had to do. I used to avoid them because I thought they were weird and mean. Now I talk African Americans because they have an interesting history. Maybe their ancestors were slaves. A lot of people still do not look at African Americans, like I do. Some might even be prejudice to them. But many people have friends that are African Americans. There are two African American girls and African American boy in my class. No one treats them differently. They have a lot of friends.

African Americans are as equal as I am. I no longer look at them badly. Some time, I hope that everyone has African American friends someday. The world would be a lot better.

Sincerely,
Tyler Cooksley