Frederick, Heather Vogel. 2009. Dear Pen Pal. (The Mother Daughter Book Club #3). Simon & Schuster. 416 pages.
Dear Miss Delaney...
"What's this?" I ask, picking up the letter that's lying in the middle of my plate and scooching my chair chair closer to the table.
Young girls and their mothers reading books together. Sounds interesting, right? This one didn't quite work for me the way I expected. I wanted to like it more than I did. This one is told through multiple narrators, alternating chapters. So many voices, so many stories. So many different directions. Jess. Megan. Emma. Cassidy. These are the 'main' girls though other characters are a part of this one as well. (There are other members of the book club, by the way.) They all have different adjustments to make in their lives: new schools, new uniforms, new siblings, new love interests, new relatives moving in, new enemies needing to be befriended and understood, new pets, etc.
I think I would have liked this one better if I'd read the first two in the series. I also think I would probably like this one better if the timing had been right. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, a book just doesn't work for you. It's not that there's anything wrong with the book. It's just it's not for you at that moment--at least. So perhaps I'll pick up this series again from the start and come away feeling better.
© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
3 comments:
I browsed the beginning of the first one once and I didn't care for it. I really like the idea of the books though.
I think the whole multiple narrator thing has to be done really well to work. I read a YA one recently that did: outside In by Chrissie Keighery.
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