13 Little Blue Envelopes

Maureen Johnson
You're not a tourist, you are on a quest. You are a quest...ioner.
My book report is about a realistic fiction novel called 13 little blue envelopes,
written by Maureen Johnson. The novel was published by HarperCollins in 2005.,
with 317 pages. Realistic fiction is a story written with events that did not actually
happen but had all the possibilities of happening.
The story takes place in Europe. The protagonist, 17-year-old Ginny Blackstone,
just received a package from her passed away aunt Peg. The package contains 13
little blue envelopes, some money and instructions. The front of each envelope was
either illustrated in pen and ink or watercolor, and they were bundled together(...)
They were each marked with a number starting with 2 to 13. The first envelope
explained what Ginny had to do. Ginny's task was to travel around Europe,
following her aunt footsteps. With every new envelope comes a new destination. In
each country she was given a task and only after the task was completed, Ginny
could open the next envelope. The thing is, there are some rules Ginny has to follow
and they're strict. No guidebooks, no extra money, no electronic devices and only 1
backpack! First stop London! After London, came Edinburgh, Rome, Paris,
Amsterdam, and island of Corfu in Greece. On her journey, Ginny found out more
about her aunt's life. Peg, her aunt was a free-spirited, unpredictable artist who
disappeared one day and died of cancer far from home.
This is an innovative story that offers us a new way of travelling with nothing
holding us back just us and our backpack, and that's what I love so much about
it it makes us do things we have never done and I believe that was one of the
author's purposes. With the descriptions of all of the places around Europe, author
takes us on a journey side to side with Ginny. One of the tasks I liked the most, was
the one in Paris, where Ginny had to find a caf her aunt decorated, based only on
what she knew about her aunt's art. I can't really talk about the downsides, but one
of the things that felt unrealistic was the fact Ginny is only 17, yet her parents let
her travel around Europe alone.
What made this book so interesting to me were the mysterious envelopes that led
Ginny into a great adventure. This story is moving, original and interesting and
besides the travelling, there's a romantic story in the background. It also has a
sequel, cause of the unexpected ending, but reveling the title of it, would probably
ruin the ending of this book. All in all, 13 little blue envelopes is definitely one of my
favourite books.