If You Read This had an excellent narrative voice. This is exactly how I’d think a child would process grief and parental neglect. The voice felt like it truly came from a child, which is not always easy to convey when writing as an adult. I also loved the island setting (Jamaica this time).

Brie’s 12th birthday is the central part of the story, so her family and friends play a prominent role. Brie’s friends are a bit one-note because we don’t get to see much of them. But I absolutely enjoyed Brie’s father (and mother). I have the double-vision as an adult to empathize with both Brie and her father.

Now, the story length is both a merit and a downside: the story is very short. You could read this all-in-one satisfying sitting. However, I felt like it could’ve been slightly longer and included another stop on Brie’s journey. There is one climatic point, or at least a point, where the drama ramps up. It concludes itself quickly and tied with a bow, but the story is largely more character-driven than plot driven.

Overall, the narrative voice won me over though I wished it could’ve been longer or explored more of Brie’s grief and her father’s aloofness.

3.5 ( )

What a beautiful thing for a mother to do for her daughter: write her letters to be opened after she passes away. And to include clues to a secret is so enticing to a child. Three letters in a box is the gift Brie receives on her twelvth birthday from her deceased mother. She is both ecstatic and sad, but with the support of her friends Smiley and Femi, and her family, she discovers more about her beloved mother, her father, whom she's been distanced from because he works so much, and herself. Set in Jamaica, I immediately felt immersed in that culture with the slang, the tropical foods, and culture of family. ( )