How it all began…

But I really wanted to help children discover how exciting and fascinating history can be. So, I started a Masters of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies to learn about how children best engage with the past. I learnt that when children can connect to history on a personal level – really imagine how life used to be for people of the past – their empathy switches on and they can make meaning from history. A part of this is using as many senses as possible to explore history – seeing, smelling, hearing, touching, tasting.

Then, one day while browsing old postcards in an antique shop, I imagined how exciting it would be to receive a real letter from the past – a tactile, real object of history that you can hold in your hand. What a great way to connect with history, especially for kids!

And so, The Lost Letters was born!

By giving young readers a chance to touch, explore, and hold real history in their hands, and bringing them directly into the story through a letter addressed just to them, they can make a meaningful connection with key moments in Australia’s past. They’ll also have a great adventure!

Not only that, but they’ll learn valuable skills without even realising it – skills in historical inquiry, research, reading and comprehension, navigating handwriting, and building sustained attention. These are all vital skills for our future historians and researchers!

I would love to bring The Lost Letters stories to your young reader’s letterbox soon. Let’s foster the next generation of readers, writers and historians!

Yours sincerely,

Eden Cox,
The Lost Letters