Life on the Refrigerator Door

Dear Ms. Kuipers,

     I am writing to inform you of a teenage girl's opinion and perspective of your book, Life on the Refrigerator Door.  My first impression of it when I bought it at the bookstore was that it was going to be about a mother and daughter who might have some timing and communication problems and later on some more serious problems, thinking along the lines of boyfriend issues or normal teenage issues, because the back reads, "Claire and her mom share the same house but they live on different planets. ... It's where they leave little notes for each other.   It's how they keep in touch.  Then one day Claire comes home to a note that's different from all the others."  I started reading the book and thought it to be very mundane, even boring at first.   However, it took a very serious turn very early on in the book, "Claire, honey, ... I found a lump in my right breast." (Kuipers, 26).  I personally didn't see this coming but, it hit me very hard, I know two people who have had cancer so it struck me immediately.  I hated when Claire would skip her mom's appointments to go hang out with her friends and do other stuff, I feel like you should support your family first.  

      I also felt like Claire's story should've been more focused on her trying to cope with everything that was going on instead of her relationship and her friend, because I feel like that might've been more beneficial to girls who are going through the same thing.  Also, many of Claire's messages seemed to be begging for money or gifts and that sort of thing, "Could you leave me an extra 10 dollars?" (73). "Could you leave me 10 dollars, Mom?" (13). I really didn't like that because I feel like she should've spend more time focused on her mom instead of shopping and buying all new stuff, what was going on with her mom was way more important.  

    Lastly, I didn't like how you ended the book, not the plot itself because that happens, but the way it was written as a giant letter instead of a bunch of little notes, I think that made the whole thing worse.  

Other then those few things, I thought that it was a great book, and one that really strikes emotions.