Seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a package full of little blue envelopes from Aunt Peg, leading her from place to place through Europe, following in the footsteps of her aunt. The only problem? Aunt Peg is no longer alive.

13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson

Ginny follows her aunt’s directions, opening only one envelope at a time, in order, and following the instructions in the previous envelope before opening the next one.

Reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes was an adventure. Maureen Johnson’s writing is, as always, fun, quirky, and humorous. Ginny reminded me a lot of my younger self: shy, not adventurous, and obedient of anything asked of her. It was really cool to see her grow into a person more outgoing and adventurous because of the little blue envelopes.

I liked that, as the story unfolded, I learned more and more about Ginny, her aunt, and their relationship. None of the breadcrumbed details seemed random. It was nice to learn more as I read.

Maureen Johnson is really good at creating interesting, three-dimensional — and sometimes four-dimensional! — characters. She didn’t let me down in 13 Little Blue Envelopes.

SPOILER AHEAD!

My favorite part of the book was when she went to the Vestal Virgins and gave them her shorts button, saying, “From one virgin to another,” or something like that. I admired that she didn’t let Beppe take advantage of her just for the sake of having an adventure one of her friends might have. I also really liked the part when she bought out all of the tickets to Starbucks: The Musical and Keith confronted her.

My least favorite part of the book was when Ginny’s backpack got stolen, of course. Maureen Johnson is currently working on the sequel, The Last Little Blue Envelope, so I think it’s safe to say that Ginny is somehow going to get either her backpack or the envelopes back.

What do you think might be in little blue envelope #13?