Monday, December 19, 2011

Breakathon Readathon Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes


Maureen Johnson is made of magic and win. I’m pretty sure this is fact.

Given my history of travel, especially solo travel, this story struck a very personal chord within me. The story is about this girl named Ginny, who at the beginning of the book learns of her aunt’s death and is given a bundle of blue envelopes from her. The first letter instructs her to book a flight to London – to leave behind all forms of communication and follow the instructions to the letter (hah – see what I did there?). She ends up travelling all over Europe – to Amsterdam, Greece, Italy, Scotland, France, and Denmark – makes friends, and completes little tasks along the way (such as finding her aunt’s old friends, who end up teaching her a variety of lessons.) Most of you will remember my own personal trip around Europe a few years ago. My personal experiences in Europe that summer, and from other trips there over the years, made me really identify with the narrator. It reminded me of how much I loved to travel, especially alone, and while I followed Ginny’s travels throughout the book, to many places I have been (the exceptions would be Amsterdam, Rome, and Greece) I craved those places again. I think Maureen Johnson was able to paint a very interesting, realistic picture of a young girl travelling alone and discovering herself, and who her aunt really was, along the way.

Likelihood I will reread: 100%

Likelihood I will recommend it to others: 100%


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Page count: 541 
(I only read 70 pages of this book, to finish it, during the readathon)

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