13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope #1)

Reader reviewed by Val

I really liked this book. I thought it was a refreshing novel that had the right combinations of mytsery, romance and of course travel! The story behind this novel is that Ginny, about to become a highschool graudate recieves a ltetter to visit the old apartment of her dead aunt. Her aunt was young and an artist and although she promised to guide and be there for Ginny throughout her growing up years, one day she decided to leave America and travel through Europe. Ginny battles with the feeling of abandonment and guilt towards having bitter feelngs towards her dead aunt while she follows directions in thirteen envelopes made by her aunt before she died. They instruct her to do things like take 1,000 dollars from her newly made account and catch a flight to England where she must find a starving artist and give him/her money. The point behind these envelopes readers will come to discover isn't the trips and the traveling which is a big part of it, but Ginny's character (who many can relate to) finding herself. discovering afterwards that she didn't need her aunt to help her shine or stand out she was always a star and the thirteen blue envelopes hlped her realize that.

Reader reviewed by Alexandra

Seventeen-year-old Ginny is sent to Europe with nothing but a backpack and a pile of envelopes. Inside those envelopes are her travel itinerary and tasks set before her by her now-deceased Aunt Peg. She has to open the envelopes in order, and can't open the next one until she's completed the previous task. Her envelopes take her from London to Edinburgh to Rome to Paris, and she makes several new and eclectic friends along the way, a rarity for the normally shy teenager. Her observations of the European sites are exciting both for readers who've seen them and those who haven't, and Ginny learns as much about her free-spirited aunt through her jouneys as she does about herself. Heart-warming and adventurous, funny and realistic (despite the unusual circumstances), 13 Little Blue Envelopes is a great read.

Reader reviewed by Pammy-la

If one envelope can set the course of your life in a completely different direction than where it was headed, imagine what thirteen would do!

When her eccentric, artistic Aunt Peg dies, Ginny Blackstone is sent on a mysterious trip to follow in her footsteps and discover things about her aunt and herself that she never thought possible.

Maureen Johnson takes the reader on a scenic British and European sightseeing tour. Ginny's experiences are described with humorous wit and are authentically related. I say this because not just one or two or three, but several of the situations that befell the traveling Ginny happened to myself when I went backpacking through Europe over 20 years ago! This is not to say that the novel is dated but rather timeless in it's accounts of strange youth hostels, cramped famous museums, and young flirty Italian men.

This is a great book if you want to take an adventure and visit a few foreign countries without ever having to leave your comfy couch!