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13 Little Blue Envelopes | 
 enlarge | Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £2.17
You Save: £6.82 (76%)
New (27) Used (16) from £1.21
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 80246
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0060541431
EAN: 9780060541439
ASIN: 0060541431
Publication Date: September 15, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sadly not worth the praise September 11, 2008
Ms. Lisa Woodall (UK)
I'd heard many good things about this book but unforunatley none of them were true. The idea was good but badly researched, the main character travels through countries the author has obviously not researched very well, it is just full of incorrect facts. The content of the story is dull and predictable and the ending is utterly unsatisfying, the main character seems unphased by events that she should be deliberating for hours. Not worth it.
 A Grand Tour, But No Ordinary Tourist April 25, 2008
Ms Alex (Leeds, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
These little blue envelopes have been carefully prepared for Ginny by her aunt who has disappeared from her New York life and who is next heard of setting Ginny this amazing challenge to fly from New York to London with one backpack, the money in the first envelope and no idea what the other twelve envelopes contain...
Ginny is seventeen so this is a book aimed at a younger audience but I really enjoyed it for a lighthearted, enjoyable read. There is a wicked sense of humour that surfaces in places and if there are a few too many coincidences then I was willing to forgive them. I loved the idea of the envelopes and it got me thinking what I would want to pass onto a younger niece... :)
Some quotes and memorable moments:
Envelope 6 which involves Rome, sex and cake.
'She was standing in the airport of Copenhagen, staring at a doorway, trying to figure out if it was (a) a bathroom and (b) what kind of bathroom it was. The door merely said H.
Was she an H?
Was H "hers"? It could just as easily be "his". Or "Helicopter Room:Not a Bathroom at All".'
'Pack snacks. This is a good rule to follow in all aspects of life.'
'A quiet London street - the kind of quiet that whispers wealth, tradition, and the presence of lots of high-tech security systems.'
If you shy from fairytales, don't get a kick out of kaleidoscopes and think student aged travellers are a blight on society then you'll probably do yourself an injury gnashing your teeth attempting this. If however you are young and hopeful that someone will surprise you with an adventure like this one or you are willing to be nostalgic about what adventures you might have had then you should enjoy this nice fluffy book. 8/10. The sort of book you read and then start planning who to buy a copy for... :)
 Courtesy of Teens Read Too October 25, 2006
TeensReadToo.com (All Over the US & Canada)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
When Virginia Blackstone (Ginny) receives the first blue envelope from her Aunt Peg in the mail, it sends her on an exciting, funny, and sometimes poignant adventure that readers will be delighted to join. The envelope contains $1,000 in cash, and the instructions to pick up a package of envelopes that start Ginny on a trip around Europe, tracing the steps of her eccentric Aunt. The instructions are specific; no cell phones, no maps, and Ginny can only open one envelope at a time, after she's completed each task in the previous letter.
Through the letters, Ginny learns more about what drove her Aunt to flee to Europe in pursuit of her art, and about her Aunt's last year of life, since Aunt Peg has passed away from a brain tumor by the time the first envelope arrives--and Ginny never got to say good-bye. Through her adventures, Ginny learns a lot about herself. Her own strength and ingenuity, her ability to forgive, and that she, too, can be an interesting person.
Some of the tasks seem impossible; find the one cafe in all of Paris where her Aunt spent a month sleeping behind the bar and decorating the cafe to pay her rent. Others are easier, at least on the surface; find a starving artist and be his mysterious benefactor. Readers will both laugh at some of Ginny's mishaps and cringe at some of her mistakes as the envelopes lead her around Europe.
Peopled with a strong cast of supporting characters--the cute playwright she meets in London, the annoying family of Americans with a "schedule" in Amsterdam, the crazy artist friends of her Aunt--the novel unfolds at a fast pace, while never losing its poignancy as Ginny retraces the steps of the Aunt she loved. Ms. Johnson has written an excellent and entertaining novel that I highly recommend.
Reviewed by: Dena Landon
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