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Seal the Sea-lion chapter opener illustration

Seal the Sea-lion

THE CLOSING

Seal the Sea-lion Signs Off Warmly

At the sunny end of Featherpost Lane, on a smooth rock by the water, lounges Seal, a friendly sea-lion with whiskers and a big, bright, flippery wave. Seal is the master of goodbyes — the warm ending every letter needs. It’s called the closing, and it’s where you finish kindly and sign your name.

A young writer had written a lovely letter, then just… stopped. It ended in the middle, like a wave cut off. Seal clapped his flippers gently. “Oh, don’t leave Grandma hanging!” he chuckled. “A letter needs a warm goodbye and your name at the end — that’s the closing. It tells the reader the letter is finished, and it tells them for sure who it’s from.”

Seal showed how easy it is. “Pick a warm word to close with — Love, or Your friend, or From, — then write your own name underneath.” He said it with a happy flourish: “Love, Mia.” His whiskers wiggled. “See? It’s like a wave goodbye at the door. You wouldn’t just vanish — you’d smile and say bye. A letter’s the same.” He never made her feel bad for stopping short; he just showed her the warm way to finish.

Say it with Seal, out loud: “End it warm and sign your name — a kind goodbye, then close the frame.”

The writer added Love, Mia at the bottom, and the letter felt complete — a real beginning, middle, and end. “Now it feels finished,” she said, proud. Seal gave a big flippery wave. “And now Grandma knows, without a doubt, it’s from you.”

That is Seal’s move, and it’s how every letter ends. Don’t just stop — close warmly. Pick a kind word like Love or Your friend, then sign your name. A warm goodbye and your name tell the reader the letter is done and exactly who it’s from.

Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up

For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.

Let them finish it

Say “End it warm and sign your name — a …” and stop. Let them finish it.

Then say the whole line together: “End it warm and sign your name — a kind goodbye, then close the frame.”.

Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.

Circles together: 0

The StampPals ensemble

Seal the Sea-lion is one of the friends in StampPals. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.