Girl Power

Love These Girls

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake

P.S. I Miss You by Jen Petro-Roy

Evie and Ivy.  Ivy and Evie. In a perfect literary world I would have them meet, hang out and fall for each other.  But for now, Evie has June and Ivy has...June! Seriously! They both have crushes on girls named, "June" and I have a crush on all of them!

Each 12 year old protagonist experiences a tragic event in their lives:  Ivy's family's home is destroyed by a tornado; Evie, growing up in a strict Catholic family, is dealing with her teenage sister sent away due to pregnancy.  On top of that, each realizes they are crushing on the new girl.  

Letters also play a role in each novel.  When Ivy leaves her sketch book at the shelter, it is discovered by someone who returns her drawings, a snapshot into her feelings, with notes inside Ivy's locker.  Thus begins a back and forth communication and Ivy's quest to find the mysterious letter writer.  In P.S. I Miss You, Evie writes letters to her sister while she is away in search of someone to listen and understand her.

Being in seventh grade is hard enough and feeling that you might not fit in with the norm makes it even tougher.  Then mix in challenges with family, losing a home, missing your sister and life gets exponentially harder.  Even Evie says, "I wish I could go back to when worrying about what [the other girls] thought was my biggest problem. Even to when worrying about what Mom and Dad thought was my biggest problem." Yet each of these characters comes out stronger in the end.

I passed on my advanced copy of Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World to one of my fifth graders and she loved it.  Here's what she wrote on her review form:

In which I would reply, "Where can I find that book?"