13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

This one's for readers who liked Marchette's Saving Francesca and Brashare's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Ginny receives a package in the mail containing 13 envelopes and instructions to follow the instructions in each and never to open an envelope early. They are from her aunt, an artist and who is charming, whimsical, sometimes flaky but excited about living. This aunt has recently died of a brain tumor after a long absence from home. We follow Ginny from London to Rome, Paris, the Louvre, Netherlands, Denmark the train broke down on the way to Greece and they couldn't use the rest room. Her backpack was stolen in on Corfu. Following her aunts instructions, she gave a large sum of money to a starving actor she came to love. She discovered she had a new uncle. As we travel Europe with Ginny, reading her aunt's instructions with her, we learn who she is and through art left behind along with her travels, Ginny learns what her beloved aunt's dying was like and how much she lost.
jdw 10/04/06