Becky Manore Helps a Letter Become a Relationship

What they made happen

A personal note inside a book can make a reading invitation feel like a message meant for one person. At Willow Ridge, that message came from an older student already known through exchanged letters. [1]

In the PALS (Peer Assistance Leadership and Service) program that Becky Manore helps advise, that personal touch came inside a book. After exchanging monthly letters with younger pen pals, Grand Ledge High School students marked Reading Month by giving them books with personal notes written inside the covers. Becky Manore, an advisor to the PALS program, told WILX that the idea grew from wanting to encourage reading. [1]

The gift extended a conversation that already existed. High school participants and elementary pupils at Willow Ridge had been writing to one another throughout the school year. The books gave that exchange another form, connecting a reading invitation with a person the recipient knew through letters. [1]

Meet the educator

Manore teaches Spanish at Grand Ledge High School in Michigan. The Michigan Department of Education recognized her as the 2025–26 Region 6 Regional Teacher of the Year. [2] She has advised PALS for three years. [4] This story focuses on a particular part of her contribution: supporting students as they build relationships through PALS.

She works within a shared effort. WILX credits Juan, the district’s student inclusion, mental health and wellness supervisor, with creating the local pen-pal initiative. Willow Ridge fourth-grade teacher Emily described how the exchange gave children practice structuring letters, supplying information and asking questions. [1] The wider PALS program has a longer regional history, with Eaton RESA and its partners developing it in the 1980s. [5]

What went into it

A continuing exchange asks something of both writers. There is another person to address, something to share and a reason to ask a question. The educational opportunity lies in maintaining that connection, not only in delivering a book.

Behind each book was another shared effort. Becky explains that PALS holds fundraisers throughout the year to help pay for the books. Brandon covered half of the books’ cost using funds raised through the homecoming dance. [4] That support helped turn the idea of a personal reading gift into something the younger pen pals could hold and keep.

Why it matters

The documented outcome is a sustained letter exchange and a book-giving activity. Teacher observations help describe its educational purpose; they do not establish measured reading gains.

A September 23, 2026 study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt examined structured cross-age reading tutoring in YMCA programs. Overall assignment to cross-age tutoring produced smaller, statistically nonsignificant effects, while analyses of receiving the full lesson sequence found benefits on selected reading outcomes. [3] The distinction matters: support, instructional design and sustained participation deserve attention.

PALS is a pen-pal relationship, not the reading intervention tested in that study. The research cannot demonstrate PALS outcomes. It offers a useful caution against assuming that an age pairing alone produces literacy gains, while inviting educators to think carefully about the learning built around the relationship.

Bring the idea to your classroom

Educators adapting this idea can establish a manageable exchange between two classes, with clear safeguarding arrangements and accessible ways to compose a message. They can encourage students to ask genuine questions and respond to what their partner shares. If books become part of the exchange, educators can plan for equitable access and choices appropriate to the readers.

Manore’s story directs attention to a modest but meaningful educational possibility: helping students become someone another learner can write to, hear from and read alongside.

Help Me Try This

Download the two-page teacher adaptation guide (PDF). A Champions of Learning adaptation inspired by this work, with classroom steps and three optional AI prompts.

Sources and credits

[1] WILX, Schools Rule! Grand Ledge high schoolers surprise elementary pen pals with books. Page timestamp April 3, 2026; URL dated April 4. Read source.

[2] Michigan Department of Education, Teachers of the Year Talk About How to Support Students, August 15, 2025. Read source.

[3] Swanson et al., Effects of Cross-Age Tutoring Implementation and Dosage on Reading Outcomes for Tutors and Tutees, published online September 23, 2026. Read source.

[4] Becky Manore, written account, October 28, 2026.

[5] Eaton RESA, Peer Assistance Leadership and Service program background. Read source.