Read the following interview with Ashely Herring Blake on her book Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World.

https://www.younginklings.org/2018-12-ashley-herring-blake/

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Herring Blake, Ashley. IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-316-51546-7.

PLOT SUMMARY:  Ivy Aberdeen is a twelve-year-old whose family has lost everything when a tornado destroys her house.  Ivy’s notebook with her special drawing goes missing when her family stays at the local school.  Ivy worries that her notebook will be found and her drawings of girls holding hands will be discovered.  Ivy finds some of her drawing in her locker with notes telling her to be honest about her feelings.  Even though she does not know who is leaving these notes, Ivy starts communicating with this person through notes. During this time, Ivy starts developing a crush on a girl named June.  Ivy is torn on how to handle the feelings she has when she is around June.     

ANALYSIS: Ivy is going through many changes in her life that make her wonder who she is and how to handle them.  With changes in the makeup of her family with the addition of two twin brothers, she feels lonely and pushed aside by her parents.  She had a good relationship with her sister, Layla, and through a misunderstanding Ivy stars feeling disconnected with her sister, whom she misses very much.  Ivy knows that she is different since she does not care much about boys like the other girls at school including her best friend Tyrin.  The new feelings for June, make Ivy nervous and wonders how to handle them as she questions herself how honest to be with June. 

SETTING: Ivy and her family live in a small southern town.  In her stay at a local hotel, she meets Robin, the owner of the hotel.  Robin is gay and one day Ivy asks Robin about her experience of figuring out who she was.  Robin shares with Ivy her story and talks to her about her relationship with her fiancé Jessa.  Ivy finds in Robin a friend who she can relate to and talk to about her feelings.

THEME:  The theme of this book is finding one’s identity and acceptance.  Ivy knows she is different because of her drawings as well as how her feelings for June have evolved.  She has been scared about others finding her notebook when she losses it. When she was going to confide in her sister about her feelings, she was unable to do it when she thought her sister got upset at her best friend, Gigi, for liking girls.  At the end, when Ivy shows her family her notebook, they embrace her without getting upset at who she is and her feelings. 

CULTURAL MARKERS: 

Author qualifications to write relating to the culture:

The author’s connections were the lack of literature as a middle-school-aged girl in helping her understand her identity.  With this book she hopes that kids can be open minded about others and learn to accept themselves as well as others.  

Is the item high quality overall, independent of its multicultural characteristics?

Overall, I would consider this book of high quality.  Not only was Ivy figuring out her own identity, but she was also suffering through the loss of her home in a natural disaster and in a way of her parents as they were focusing on the twins and how she felt pushed aside.  Kids at this age can relate to the many issues presented in this book especially as they are learning how to handle different emotions and situations in their lives. 

CONNECTIONS: Students will read the book and be assigned to small groups to answer discussion questions before, during and after reading the book.  Students’ group answers can be posted on a Nearpod or Padlet. 

Question before reading:

When you first look at the book’s title and cover, what did you think it might be about?

Questions during reading:

Why is Ivy’s notebook so important to her?

How does Ivy feel when she is displaced and no longer has a home? Have you ever known someone

in this situation and what was it like for them?

 

What is significant about the conversation Ivy overhears between Layla and her best friend Gigi?

How does this impact how Ivy feels about telling Layla who she likes? What does she find out later

about that conversation?

What is significant about the conversation Ivy overhears between Layla and her best friend Gigi?

How does this impact how Ivy feels about telling Layla who she likes? What does she find out later

about that conversation?

Questions after reading:

 

Why do you think the book is called Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World? What is Ivy’s “letter to the

world?”

 

How did you feel when the book ended?

 

What are the overall themes and messages of the book?

 

Questions retrieved from https://www.adl.org/media/11273/download