Hello there, young explorer,

My name is Grandpa Wise. I am an owl, I am very old, and I have flown over every country in the whole world. That is not a boast. It is simply a lot of flapping.

You don’t know me yet, so I thought I should write and tell you how all of this began.

For most of my life, I collected stories. In Egypt, I learned why the pyramids have no windows. In Brazil, a very rude parrot taught me three jokes (I only remember two). In Japan, I watched a train go faster than I can fly, which I found extremely embarrassing.

My feathers grew grey. My story collection grew ENORMOUS. And I had nobody to tell them to. An owl with a thousand stories and no one to share them with is the loneliest bird in the sky.

Then, one rainy evening, I landed on a windowsill to dry my wings — and inside, I saw a silver-haired lady at a wooden desk, writing letters. Stacks and stacks of them. Envelopes everywhere. A dog was asleep on her feet.

“Who are all those letters for?” I asked through the window.

“Children,” she said, without even looking up. “Children love letters. Nobody sends them anymore, so I do.”

“I have stories,” I said. “A thousand of them. From everywhere.” She put down her pen, looked at me over her glasses, and smiled. “Well then,” she said. “You’d better come in.”

That lady was Nanna Bell. The sleepy dog was Judy, who is much less sleepy when there is an adventure about. Later came Luma the owl, who minds the maps, and Foxy Loxy, who writes everything down so I can’t change the endings.

And ever since that rainy evening, my stories start Nanna Bell’s journeys and the letters follow, and her letters go all over the world — and now, one of them might find its way to you.

Which brings me to the important part. Lean in close.

I don’t only write my stories. Sometimes, I tell them out loud — but only to children who find the Secret Key. And you, clever thing, have just found it:  

┌─────────────────────────────────┐

│ YOUR SECRET KEY: Grandpa Wise Owl will give you the secret key after he tells you a story with his very own voice all about what comes with Nanna’s Letters!  └─────────────────────────────────┘

Ask your grown-up to help you press the button above. He’ll be waiting.

And if you’d like to know where Judy, Luma, Foxy and I are off to next… well. That is next month’s letter. Nanna Bell has visited and is now writing all about it.

Your friend from everywhere, Grandpa Wise 🦉

P.S. The joke from the parrot? I remembered it. But I’m only telling it out loud.