Customer Reviews

13 Little Blue Envelopes

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Seventeen-year-old Ginny was always in awe of her Aunt Peg, a free-spirited woman who loved the arts and would often disappear for months on end, only to show-up once again with tales of a fabulous adventure she had taken part in. Aunt Peg's most recent adventures took place throughout Europe. That is, before she died of a brain tumor. However, before her death, Aunt Peg made arrangements for Ginny to explore Europe the same way she did - with no plans at all whatsoever. Ginny receives a package from her deceased Aunt...one that includes a plane ticket to London, a list of rules, and thirteen little blue envelopes that she must open one at a time, in order to truly experience the whole "backpacking adventure."

There was something about Maureen Johnson's 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES that appealed to me from the moment I saw the cover, and read the synopsis about the story. An air of mystery and adventure that drew me in from page one. Ginny is an intriguing character, who can seem aloof, or shy at times, but is really fun once you truly delve into the story, and see what she's about. The adventures that she takes part in - and allows the reader to accompany her on - are exciting, and leave the reader ready to truly explore Europe on a backpacking trip of his/her own. Johnson has done a marvelous job of accurately conveying the mixed feelings of a teenager on her own, and the butterflies of first love, and has wrapped them all together in this nice little package. A first-class novel that will be cherished for generations.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

I've been a reader of Maureen Johnson's blog for awhile now, but hadn't gotten to any of her books yet. On the insistence of others, I broke down and ordered 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Wow! I wish I'd picked this up sooner!

The plot itself is interesting, with the added bonus of being much different from most of the YA books on the shelves right now. Throughout the book, Johnson throws surprises and great chances for character development at the protagonist, Ginny, who shows fabulous arc through the book. Not only does she have travel opportunities that will leave readers wanting to hop on the next Trans-Atlantic, but her writing is fresh enough to keep the pages flying by as well.

Johnson is well known for being one of the most accessible, entertaining YA writers in the field right now. She definitely doesn't disappoint with Little Blue Envelopes - her concise, realistic prose and eye for charming, absurd details makes this a definite keeper. If you're looking for a fun, surprisingly moving book...this is the one for you!

Seventeen-year-old Ginny is living a rather normal, quiet life in New Jersey until a letter arrives from her quirky Aunt Peg. The letter contains a thousand dollars in cash and instructions: get a passport, book a one-way flight to London, then go to an address in New York to pick up a package before heading to the airport. Aunt Peg also lists specific rules: Take only what fits in a backpack. Leave credit cards, money, camera, cell phone, and laptop at home, and have no contact by electronic means from Europe with anyone in America. It seems unbelievable that Ginny would agree to these terms, but she does and is soon on her way to London with the New York package that contains twelve more letters of instruction.

Letter #2, which she is told to open on the plane, sends her to a flat in London where a man named Richard seems to be expecting her. Richard's answer to Peg's riddle "What did you sell the queen?" provides the password to an ATM account for Ginny that will fund her many adventures. Letter #3 instructs Ginny to give a charitable donation to an artist. After a few false starts Ginny stumbles upon a strange little play entitled "Starbucks: The Musical" and buys all the tickets to every performance. She becomes involved with the play's strange producer/director/star, Keith, who accompanies her to Edinburgh, Scotland where Letter #4 sends her. The next two envelopes guide Ginny on to Rome to statues of the vestal virgins.

Ginny is adopted by a noisy, over-organized American family touring Holland and spends five days with them. Her backpack and everything she owns, except her passport and ATM card, are stolen in Greece. Sometimes Ginny runs into dead ends as she tries to follow the instructions in the letters. She often gets lost and has to retrace her steps. At times she is tired, dirty and homesick; that's when she curses the letters and even Aunt Peg. Still, Ginny continues on her amazing journey, propelled by the letters, to a surprising conclusion.

13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES is a very interesting book, full of realistic details of faraway places. Anyone who has the soul of an adventurer or is an armchair traveler will be swept away on a grand adventure in Europe with Ginny.

--- Reviewed by Carole Turner

The fact that Ginny has received a package of thirteen blue envelopes from her eccentric but favorite aunt telling her to travel around the world is not particularly shocking. Being instructed to open each envelope in order isn't so strange either. What makes it a surprise is the fact that Ginny's aunt Peg has been dead for months. She was young and full of life, and her death was a shock.

Now, though, she is sending Ginny on a journey. It starts in London and will end up...who knows where? On the way, she'll meet interesting people, see exotic places, and, most of all, get to better know the aunt she lost.

The idea behind the story is original and interesting, sure to be appreciated by readers for the fact that it is both fun and meaningful. The characters are all interesting, unique, and believable. Readers will come to know Peg, who has been dead for three months at the start of the novel, through her letters and the journey she took through Europe that Ginny is retracing. Among the interesting people met by Ginny on her travels are Keith, a performance artist who was a bit of a delinquent in the past, and Richard, a friend of her aunt's who once sold underpants to the Queen of England, and various other colorful characters.

For some reason, it took me awhile to get into this story, but once I did, I was hooked. The ending was a little more open than I would have liked, but this is a good book that teens are sure to enjoy. Fans of Maureen Johnson's other books are sure to like 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES. Having read two of her other novels (DEVLILISH and THE BERMUDEZ TRIANGLE ), I was slightly disappointed with this one; it didn't grab my attention quite as quickly or keep my mind quite as occupied as those other two books, but it was still enjoyable, thought-provoking, and certainly worth reading.

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce
Posted 12/20/2006

4.5-BOOKS on WUAT = 5-STARS on Amazon

This was by far one of the best books I have read this year. Totally in my top five.( And I read constantly! This is a very high rating!) The plot to this book was beyond the "teen" genre. Usually if a book is in the teen genre it has a very predictable plot and characters (you know what I mean) This book was a suprisingly mature and thoughtful story. I loved the letter formatt and plan on using the book as a travel aid for a trip in the future ( I would love to go to Europe!!) This book was a really great, and fun read, that had a really good moral: find yourself and have fun doing it, and don't forget to do something spontanious every once in a while.

My friend did a book project on this and the idea of the story fascinated me. Overall it was a good not great book. It was wordy in all the wrong places and any problem Ginny faced didnt seem real or likely. The author had a tendency to gloss over the details.Sometimes the entire thing seemed unrealistic. So many things could have gone wrong with an unsupervised minor trekking acorss Europe but none of those issues were addressed. At the end of the book I felt muddled and tired just like Ginny. Considering the kinds of book I have read in this genre it was an excellent book and i recomend it but I think there are better, more detailed books out there.

This was a kind of neat book I picked up on a whim. It's about a seventeen-year-old girl named Ginny who goes off on a trip across Europe. She follows the directions her starving artist aunt left her in a series of 13 little blue envelopes. It's an interesting concept but not very realistic: what parents of a high schooler would let their daughter go traveling overseas completely alone, with no timely means of contacting them? Ginny does get into a few scrapes during her travels, but always manages to get away unscathed when the plot dictates that she should move on. The only other complaint I have is that the scenery changes too often; keeping straight the themes and atmosphere of London, Edinburgh, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and a number of places south all the way to Greece was a bit too much. Overall, however, '13 Little Blue Envelopes' is an entertaining read that goes by quickly and is perfect if you have a few hours' free time.

I've read over 60 books this year. There have been a lot of great ones(like Rebel Angels, Girls in Pants, and Twilight), but I thought this one was the best. It has something for everyone!

This book is a combination of several genres. First, it's an adventure. 17yo Ginny is sent on a mission by her aunt, who has died. Her only guide is a trail of 13 blue envlopes. They lead her all around Europe. Second, it's a romance. Along the way, she meets Keith, who is a really funny and cute British guy. (And I really liked Keith because he seemed real.) Third, it's a mystery, as Ginny tries to figure out what the envelopes all mean and what they are leading up to. And you won't expect it.

The book is about a girl named Ginny who is given a posthumous letter from her Aunt. This letter instructs her to go pick up a package and inside are 13 blue letters. In each letter are instructions that take her to different places in Europe and help her have a European adventure. In order to open the next letter she must complete instructions in the previous and her adventure starts in London.
The book was a great read for me, because I live in Europe. It was great to have her insight on certain cities that I had been to but not the places where she went. Also what was entertaining was what her aunt instructed her to do. Each one of theses endeavors brought about new challenges and each of these challenges were meet with extreme courage by the heroine(who is shy). But my favorite part of the book was her aunt. Although she was dead, you could tell that this was someone you wanted to know. As you go through the story you admmire her more and more, or at least i did. I hope you thoroughly enjoy it like i did!

Let me just start out by saying that I am a big fan of Maureen Johnson. Her sense of humor is what draws me into her books and leaves me wishing for more by the time I'm done. That said, 13 Little Blue Envelopes is her one book that got the most hype pre-Suite Scarlett so I am shocked at what a disappointment it was.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

Ms. Johnson normally has that pitch-perfect ability to make characters and situations come alive for me. I wasn't feeling it with this one. The premise is interesting enough: a deceased woman leads her niece through Europe via instructions written in thirteen little blue envelopes. However, Maureen Johnson wasn't able to give this particularly wacky situation a soul. It just starts off with Ginny explaining how the envelopes situation came about and a little background on her and her aunt. Then she's off to Europe. That's it, just like that. As if everyone is just able to swing off to an entirely different continent. It had previously mentioned that her mom was disapproving of her aunt and her antics so why was she met with no challenge on the exploration of Europe? I haven't seen anyone bring this up yet so maybe it's only me, but I don't think most parents would want their child gallavanting alone through unfamiliar countries. Even a brief mentioned of a conflict or some sort of parental reaction or even a "Ginny had run away to the airport and her parents currently had no idea where she was" would have brought the situation to life a little bit more. (I'm sorry. I'm nit-picky about these kinds of details. I know it's not a huge central problem but there it is.)

Great characterization is another thing that I look for in Maureen Johnson books. She's usually able to create believable characters with likes and dislikes and habits and passions and everything else that makes a person a person. Ginny was just bland. The story was more about Aunt Peg who was stuffed with believable-Maureen-Johnson-personality. Ginny was just an empty vessel meant to uncover the truth about her aunt. She was given a love interest who was half-way believable and that's about all there is to say about Ginny.

I was excited to read a book that was not only set in Europe but set ALL OVER Europe. But I never really got the impression that Ginny was seeing these new and exciting places. She just skipped around through them, not really making them memorable or even fun. She may as well have been trekking through the backalleys of any suburban neighborhood. Each glance of a new country was fleeting and came with a new character/situation/piece of knowledge that was also fleeting. All in all, Europe seemed just as lifeless as Ginny did.

I gave the book three stars because despite my complaints with it there were a few redeeming factors. The scene in which Ginny and few others sing along to ABBA songs in Denmark was definitely a mark of the wonderful Maureen Johnson. The Starbucks Musical was a hilarious idea and something that I would pay money to see--this was the one part of the book that Ginny actually evoked a reaction from me. I could feel her anxiety when she realized the mistake she had made by buying out all the tickets. There were a few minor characters I wouldn't mind reading about had Ms. Johnson made one of them the protagonist: the first was Mari Adams, the eccentric artist that Ginny meets. The other was Olivia, the secret lesbian living with a pair of rather deranged parents.

All in all, I would recommend Johnson's other works before this though if you are a Maureen Johnson fan, a bit of her spark does shine through making it worth the read.