Students read Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland's, Sami and the Time of Troubles before discussing it as a class. They brainstorm ideas for a letter to the main character, Sami. Next, they write a rough draft of a letter to Sami telling him about their country, themselves, and to determine how he is doing. They peer edit the letters before writing a final draft on a piece of stationary. In a second activity, they draw picture of a scene from the story.