Book Review: Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

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NetGalley ARC Book Review of Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick
Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick is the third book in a middle grade book series that is being rereleased. Chaos erupts in this third installment as the daughters in the book club get themselves into trouble. Each of the girls have big changes in their lives:  Jess is going to boarding school; Megan's grandmother comes to live with her; Emma starts a campaign against school uniforms; Cassidy has a lot of unexpected change coming to her family. Will the mother daughter book club stay together?

I'd like to thank NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Dear Pen Pal by Heather Vogel Frederick with it's upcoming rerelease to the public. I always love a good book that involves books, even if its target audience is children between the ages of eight and twelve.

It wasn't until I reached the end of the book that I realized that it wasn't a new series, but I'm glad it's being released again for readers like me who weren't familiar with it. The story is incredibly well-written, engaging, and relatable. If you love stories that are told from multiple viewpoints, you will love this one because it's told from the perspectives of Jess, Megan, Cassidy, and Emma. However, I did have a little trouble keeping a couple of the characters straight, but that wasn't enough to detract from the overall story.

Different Book Covers for Dear Pen Pal (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick
The author did a fantastic job of capturing how girls in middle school behave, what goes through their minds, and how they react. It definitely took me back to my own middle school years. Each of the girls have their own unique personality, and I was surprised how well the characters were developed. You don't find that too often in middle grade novels, at least not the ones I read when I was that age. I personally found Jess to be the most relatable character.


At one point, there's a prank pulled on this group of friends, and they decide to get revenge by planning and pulling off their own prank. They did end up getting into trouble when caught. It made me remember a prank that was pulled on my Language Arts Teacher by two male students on April Fool's Day, and the entire class got into trouble when no one would turn in the culprits.

I've absolutely fallen in love with this series and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys The Baby-Sitters Club or Sweet Valley Twins. I look forward to reading more by Heather Vogel Frederick. Dear Pen Pal received a resounding four out of five stars from me.

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