13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

13 Little Blue Envelopes

Maureen Johnson

2005

This was another one of those books that I picked up at the library 'just because'. I thought it had a cool cover* and the little summary on the back sounded like something I would like. And I did like this book. Quite a lot.

13 Little Blue Envelopes is about 17-year-old Ginny who receives (you can probably guess this bit) 13 little blue envelopes the summer before her last year of high school. The envelopes are from her 'Runaway Aunt' Peg, who has passed away. She is informed that she will be leaving for several weeks to travel to foreign lands. She has 4 rules to follow: 1) Bring only what fits in your backpack, 2) you cannot bring a journal or foreign language aid, 3) you cannot bring any extra money (she is provided with the necessary cash), and 4) no electronics. She is instructed to buy a plane ticket to London, and thus begins the story.

When I read this book the first time, I didn't know there was going to be a sequel. But now there is. I really liked the way the story was narrated, and I really liked Ginny. There is a little bit of a lack of believability to the entire premise of the novel, as a 17 year old is travelling to foreign lands alone, but it's fiction so it doesn't have to be believable. The book is charming and funny, and a very good, if relatively quick, read. There is one particular part of the book that has become my favourite, but I don't want to ruin any of the story. It just has to do with a longing to visit a certain European city.

The author is quite something. Maureen Johnson, who is not the character from RENT, has one of the funniest and most active twitter accounts. If you have twitter and are interested in her works, her life, her adorable cat and his quest to destroy all the stuffed orange kittens he is provided with, I suggest you follow her. Her name is @maureenjohnson. Currently she is working on 'something secret' with another author so she isn't tweeting as much, but usually she does. As well, she loves to send dirty jokes/messages to her friend and fellow author John Green during his live shows. The contents of these messages has never been revealed to the public though. Which just adds to the mystery.

I give this book 4.3 out of 5 stars. I liked it quite a lot. 

*I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but if the title and/or cover aren't interesting, I'm probably not going to be interested.