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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Sep 2005, 317 pages
Paperback:
Oct 2006, 318 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse Review Team
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From the book jacket:
Everything about Ginny will change this
summer, and it's all because of the 13
Little Blue Envelopes. Inside little blue
envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to
buy a plane ticket. In envelope 2 are
directions to a specific London flat. The
note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a
starving artist. Because of envelope 4,
Ginny and her artist, a
playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called
Keith, go to Scotland together, with
somewhat disastrous -- though utterly
romantic -- results. Ginny isn't sure she'll
see Keith again, and definitely doesn't know
what to think about him. Could the answer
be in the envelopes?
Ginny doesn't know it, but adventures in
Rome and Paris are in envelopes 6 and 8. The
rules are that she has to open one at a
time, in order, so perhaps it isn't
surprising that she discovers things about
her life and love one by one. Everything
about Ginny will change this summer, and
it's all because of the 13 Little Blue
Envelopes.
Comment: As the story opens we find 17 year-old
Ginny setting off on a glorified scavenger
hunt across Europe following the directions
of her formerly wayward but recently
deceased aunt. Putting aside that the
opening premise does stretch credibility
somewhat (would Ginny's mother, who is
described as someone who was "born
practical" and "encouraged her younger
sister to become an accountant, like
herself", really allow Ginny to go off into
the wild blue yonder with no known
destination and no money?) it's easy to get
absorbed into Ginny's journey of
self-discovery. This would be a great
choice for teenage girls who are drawn to
such books as The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants.
Did you know? 13 Little
Blue Envelopes won the 2005 Cuffie Award
in the category of "Book We Could Have Sold
with a Better Cover". The
Cuffies, short for off the cuff, are an
informal, fun, annual poll of children's
booksellers conducted by Publishers Weekly.
The complaint being, " Could
someone please stop giving the publishers
stock photos of slutty teen girls?"
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in November 2005, and has been updated for the
October 2006 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
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