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When I was a child, most of my friends went to sleep-away camp in the summer. I was not so fortunate, but my father gave me boxes of beautiful flowered stationery and encouraged me to correspond with my friends. I also wrote Yiddish letters to my grandmother (who only lived on the other side of Brooklyn). In the personal diaries that my father gave me at the start of each year, I wrote "Dear Diary Letters" to myself. So began my habit of letter writing, which has persisted to this day.

I no longer keep a diary and I keep in touch with friends and family by cell phone or email. From time to time, however, I do write letters when I feel strongly about something and want to get it off my chest. These letters tend to go to newspapers, people in public life, and sometimes to celebrities. The results vary. Many well-known people have answered my letters.

The first letter to a celebrity went to ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov. My daughter and I love ballet. Many years ago, when he was scheduled to appear at Lincoln Center, I got tickets for us. Dressed up and excited, my little girl and I went to the theater only to discover that Baryshnikov had suffered an injury and would not be appearing that night. I wrote to him about our great disappointment. He sent us a beautiful autographed picture of himself. It still hangs on my office wall as a symbol of perfection in the arts.

Another celebrity letter went to former First Lady Betty Ford when she and her husband were about to leave the White House. I wished them well and complimented her on the courage she showed by going public with her breast cancer battle at a time when doing so was rare. I thought she changed attitudes and probably saved many lives. She wrote a gracious note thanking me for my letter.

Some of my letters to celebrities have had unforeseen or funny results. When I was learning to write young adult fiction, I began to read the work of other writers in this genre. When I came upon a truly awesome book that I will never forget, I wanted to write to the author and tell him how I felt about it. He is very well known in the field so I had no difficulty in getting his email address. I explained who I was and told him that his book "blew my mind and touched my heart" to such an extent that I was interested in contributing financially to the cause he espoused. He wrote back immediately, thanking me for my letter, and telling me that he would soon be coming to my area with his children. Would I like to meet him for dinner, he asked. I noticed that no wife was mentioned in his note. Oops! How old was this guy, I wondered. A little research revealed that I was correct in my assumption that he was divorced and looking for kindred company. He was 20 years younger than I! I wrote back saying that I could not make it.

The funniest of all my letter-writing experiences happened when Bill Clinton was president. He got a dog, a chocolate brown Labrador retriever named Buddy. My friend had one named Lady Chocolat. I wrote a letter to Buddy from Lady Chocolat. Here's what I wrote:

"Dear Buddy:

Congratulations to you on your new position, First Dog to President Clinton. My name is Lady Chocolat and I am, like you, a chocolate brown Labrador Retriever. I am, however, 4-and-a-half years old, much older than you are, and I am female. Please do not think that since I am female I might be trying to make a 'date' with you. I simply want to send my best wishes to you and tell you how proud I am to have 'one of us' in the White House. As an older member of our breed, I also would like to give you some advice, which I thought might serve you well in your esteemed position.

1. Behave yourself. No chewing on furniture or unpopular White House visitors. No snoring. No 'little accidents' in the White House.

2. Teach the President to use a 'pooper scooper.' It might be useful to him in dealing with some members of Congress.

3. Pay attention and learn what is required of you. I understand you are having difficulty learning to 'fetch.' Concentrate and try harder. You can do it. If you don't, Mrs. Clinton will have to 'fetch' and that would never do.

4. Don't gossip. You are now privy to all sorts of White House secrets. Get a notebook and write everything down. When you retire, you can write a book.

5. Mr. Clinton is a good man. Love him with all your heart and forgive any innocent errors he might make.

I do want to ask one favor. Could you tell me which brand of dog food the White House serves? I would like to invest in that company's stock (or is that 'insider information' prohibited by the securities laws?)

Sincerely, Lady Chocolat"

The response was a card with a picture of the White House. The printed message on the card was: "Thank you for writing to me. Living at the White House is very exciting, and I am enjoying my new family."

The card was signed with a paw print and the name Buddy. Enclosed were two 8x10 color photos of President Clinton with his dog.

In recent years, a few of my letters to celebrities have not been answered. They were written to Alan Dershowitz, Al Gore, the national president of Hadassah, and President Obama. President Obama did, however, put my name on his mailing list and I receive email messages from the White House from time to time.

My father could not have foreseen that his encouragement of letter writing when I was a child would have resulted in this entertaining hobby so many years later.

Toby Rosenstrauch, an award-winning columnist, lives in Boynton Beach, Fla.