Letter to My Daughter-A Gushing Review

I've been meaning to get this review/gush up of Letter to My Daughter for a few days now but life has (rather fortunately actually) gotten in the way this week. I'm happy about my lack of free time because in this case it means I have been working! This was my first week at my new job, and so far I like it. It's definitely something I can see myself working at for a long time, as long as my school schedule in the Fall permits me to keep it.

This week I didn't finish any books because, as I said above, I was so busy I barely even had time to sit down. I didn't even get to the gym! But I did get halfway through Alison Croggon's The Crow. I also while at Target saw that book 4 in the saga, The Singing, is finally out on paperback, so I was kind of a bad girl and splurged on the $10 book…..(don't tell the fam.-I'm supposed to be saving money).. I should have The Crow finished by next weekend. Now I commence with my thoughts on George Bishop's fabulous book:

I won Letter to My Daughter from Library Thing's Early Reviewers. As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew it was a book I wanted to read. And I gulped it down super quickly! It's pretty short, just a mere 148 pages, but boy was it good!! The whole book is one long letter that a mother writes to her 15 year old daughter after they've had a big fight and the daughter runs off. In her letter, the mother, Laura, tells her daughter the story of her own adolescence, including the pain of switching high schools mid-year, first loves, and even the bumpy relationship she had with her own parents as a teen. The book is so thoughtfully written that it actually seems as if a real mom is writing this letter, not a middle-aged man. It was the kind of thing I wish my mom would write to me sometimes.

Some of this book was actually hard to read because of how painful it was. It's so easy to put myself into Laura's shoes, especially now that I'm no longer a teen and can look back on those years. This isn't a "Vietnam War Era" novel, but the war definitely resonates throughout the letter, which makes the story seem even more real. I cried at least twice while reading this, and I'll probably cry again when I someday reread it (because it's def. worth a reread!).

I think this book is a great reminder to teens that their parents were once young and made mistakes too. It's also a great reminder to parents that they used to be young and quite similar to the kids they now have. I think this would be the perfect book to bring on a vacation because it's quick and very heartwarming.

I'll end this review with my favorite quote, a piece of advice that Laura receives in a letter from a teacher as a teen, and then passes down to her daughter in her letter: "Be good, and if you can't be good, at least be sensible."