Pen Pals Across the Galaxy

Ten-year-old Zoe starts exchanging letters with a mysterious pen pal who claims to live on another planet. When the letters arrive with strange gifts, Zoe must decide whether this friendship is real — and worth fighting for.

Zoe Nakamura was ten years old and absolutely convinced she was the loneliest person on her street. Her family had moved to Maplewood six months ago, and she still hadn't made a single real friend — just a few kids who said hi in the hall and then looked away.

Her bedroom had a slanted roof, a window that faced the backyard, and a cork board where she pinned pictures of places she wanted to visit: the Amazon, the Great Wall, the rings of Saturn. Her mom had signed her up for a school pen pal program, and today, finally, a letter had arrived in the mailbox addressed in handwriting she didn't recognize.