Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

LaFleur, S. (2010). Love, Aubrey. New York: Random House. 

PLOT

  Aubrey is a girl who is overcoming the tragedy of the loss of her father and sister in a car accident and the loss of her mother who has abandoned her out of sheer sadness. Aubrey takes comfort in writing to Jilly, her sister's imaginary friend. After her grandmother finds out that Aubrey has been staying alone and caring for herself she brings her to her home in Vermont and into a world of baking pies and swinging from trees. Here she meets Bridget who is a strong and lonley girl and the two finally begin to break into each others shells. When Aubrey's mother comes back and wants to start new with Aubrey, she must make a tough decision that will affect the rest of her life.

Review

  I decided to not talk about this book in my genre project because I loved it too much to not include it in this assignment. Love, Aubrey was beautifully and truthfully written. You want to protect Aubrey from the moment you realize that she is alone and you cheer her on as she begins to blossom and realize things will never be the same and it is up to her to survive. You want to scream at her mother who left her and hold her tightley when she returns with an open heart and flowing tears. This is a wonderful tween book that shares with readers the sentiment that happens when someone close dies, and shows readers that they can take little baby steps to create their own destiny.

Genre

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age

Tween/8-12 years old/4th-8th grade

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Personal Thoughts

  I truly fell in love with this story. This story is told with such emotion that you laugh while you are crying. The copy of this book that I found at my library had no book jackey and the cover offered little for the imagination. I was hooked by the first sentence. A must read.

Characters

• Aubrey: 11-year-old protagonist, mourning the loss of her father and sister, abandoned by her mother, living with her grandmother.
• Gram: Aubrey's maternal grandmother, who provides the stability in the Aubrey's life necessary for her to come to terms with her loss.
• Savannah: Aubrey's 7-year-old sister, who died in a car accident.
• Bridget: Aubrey's best friend, who lives next door to Gram in Vermont.
• Marcus: A friend from school, whose emotional problems help Aubrey gain perspective.
• Jilly: Savannah's imaginary friend, to whom Aubrey began writing letters.

Readers Annotation

 Aubrey is alone. Her father and sister are dead and her mother has disappeared. Aubrey thinks that she can make it alone, but when her grandmother comes to rescue her, Aubrey realizes that she needs all the help that she can get.