Paige Gallagher

Paige Gallagher
The last little blue envelope
Maureen Johnson
Fiction
Holiday
79

1) In my book Ginny is starting to leave for Paris. In the last book Ginny received 13 letters from her aunt with money and a plane ticket to England enclosed. In the following letters were tasks that her Aunt wanted her to complete. The odd part though was that her aunt died a little while ago. In her memory she decides to take Aunt Pegs challenge and travel through Europe this summer. The twelfth envelope led her to Greece. As she arrived after a long travel over Ginny and her new friend Carrie decide to go swimming. They also brought along Carries two friends Emmet and Bennett. The two boys were so tired they fell asleep on the beach on top of their backpacks. When Carrie and Ginny get out of the water their backpacks are gone but Emmet and Bennett's are still there. Both girls are concerned because Ginny's backpack contained the 13th and most important letter. Leading into the sequel, Ginny receives an email from a man back in England. It says he found her backpack and will help her follow the last letter. She packs up and heads to England. When she finds him there he explains that the last letter contains instructions to receive a painting of her aunts. Oliver and Ginny both know the paintings are very valuable. Oliver is a poor Englishman that knows in the past the envelopes told Ginny to sell the paintings, he also knows they sell for a large amount of money. He makes a deal with Ginny saying that he will help her gather the pieces of the last painting, if Ginny splits the profit of it. She has no choice but to agree, so she heads off with Oliver to England to get the first piece of the painting.

2) I have really enjoyed this book! The plot is very unusual and suspenseful making it not like any other book I have read. One thing the other does that pulls me in as a reader is making the main character very realistic. Ginny is your average teenage girl. She has friends but she's not popular. Ginny's smart and receives good grades but she isn't a genius. Like any other teenage girl she has a difficult time figuring out what she should write about for college applications. Another thing that makes her very real is the fact that she is shy. She never liked to think outside of the box. One thing the author does that pushes me away as a reader is she makes some characters that are supporting roles perfect. Ginny meets a boy in England and his life is flawless. Nothing that the author has wrote about indicates that he has any real life problems.

3) One theme I have noticed so far in my book is the Great Journey. The way Ginny's aunt set up these letters were so that she would have to explore and fend for herself. In some of the places her aunt had her travel the letter didn't indicate where she should stay overnight. This forced Ginny to step out of the box and find her way. Not only did Ginny travel physically, she traveled emotionally. After she came back from her trip, she was much more creative and she learned how to be herself. Once Ginny was forced to do all of these things she learned how to apply that to reality back home. In my opinion even though everyone refers to her aunt as the crazy one and the one that no one ever knew where she was I think she was very smart. The way she set this up for Ginny was exactly how she planned it. There were mishaps along the way but that's what her Aunt wanted. She didn't want to see Ginny confused or upset, she wanted to see her finally be herself.

4) My favorite character was Richard. One thing I like a lot about his character was the fact that I didn't like him in the beginning. I thought he was one piece of the puzzle that was boring and uninteresting. As the story progressed he turned out to be very surprising. Richard was someone who was mentioned in one of the early letters. Ginny's job was to find him and ask to stay with him. In the end Ginny needed help getting back to London from Greece because her backpack with her money was stolen. She contacted Richard and he helped her get back. On the train ride back with Richard he confessed that he was her Aunt Peg's husband. Ginny's Aunt Peg, got cancer and that is how she passed away. Right before she passed she mailed the letters. The real reason she married Richard was for health benefits to help her with her cancer. The two did love each other but they were never the type to marry.

5) My least favorite character is Keith. He is a boy that Ginny met in England. The two had some sort of relationship. They never made it official because Keith knew that Ginny had to go back to America at some point. When Ginny travels back to London her two goals are to figure out why Keith isn't instant messaging her as much, and to get the letters back. One thing Ginny knows Keith likes about her is that she always seems to show up out of the blue. In order to win him over she doesn't tell him that she's coming back to England. What Ginny decides to do is bring him a Christmas present and just show up at his door. When she gets there he hollers out the window for her to come in. As she gets up the stairs he gets very confused. Ginny surprises him and just as the two are getting closer a girl walks in. Her name is Ellis, and Ginny assumes its Keith's roommates girlfriend. After a couple of minutes she realizes this is Keiths girlfriend and thats why he hasn't been online as much. I don't like that Keith played her on like that and didn't give Ginny a fair explanation.

6) One prediction I would make is that Oliver is going to want more from Ginny than just the money. One reason I think that is because he went to a lot of trouble going through all thirteen letters to figure out what Ginny's email is and how to get her to say yes to traveling with him. Not many people have enough time to figure out someones email based on 13 letters and then to contact them to travel across the world. From the moment Oliver was introduced as a character I thought he was very un-trustworthy. Even the email he sent her seemed very unfriendly. If he has the time to find a seventeen year old girl who lives in New Jersey he must have something else up his sleeve. In my opinion I think Ginny should try to do something to make sure she's protected from this sketchy guy thats traveling with her.