Book Review: Signed, Hopelessly in Love

 Amo, a student at Puso Ka Junior Secondary School is a serious journalist. She writes the hard pieces, like “Is writing notes harmful?” Then she’s given the fluff assignment of becoming “Aunt Lulu” and answering questions in the school newspaper. She, for sure, does not want to be Aunt Lulu. Then a letter arrives and it’s signed “Hopelessly in Love” and her life changes. She discovers she’s good at giving advice. But can she handle the consequences of her own advice?

Signed, Hopelessly in Love was written by Lauri Kubuitsile, an award-winning author who’s written 14 published works of fiction, primarily for children. This was the first one I’d read. I liked it for several different reasons.

Kubuitsile lives in Botswana and the book is set there. I know little about Botswana and loved getting to read about the people there, as well as the setting. Life there is different from here – and yet, not so different. Parents love their children there as much as they do here. Botswanan kids want the same things American kids want. And childhood friendships are lasting, no matter where you live.

It was fun reading this story from Amo’s viewpoint. Amo lays her heart out for us to see. She’s being raised by her grandmother whom she loves and respects but doesn’t always agree with. Things don’t always go her way and, like all of us, she messes up sometimes. You can identify with her when things go wrong and she loses more than just her heart.

I think this would be a great book for pre-teens or early teens. And don’t be hesitant because it’s set in Botswana. No matter where you live, feelings and dreams are the same. Plus, it’s always good to read about characters and places far away, places that may look different, but the people are not.

Places to go to purchase Signed, Hopelessly in Love:

Book Depository

Amazon.com (limited availability)

Kalahari.com

Amazon.co.uk (preorder)

Loot.co.za

I give Signed, Hopelessly in Love a rating of Hel-of-a-Character.

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FTC Disclaimer: Signed, Hopelessly in Love was sent to me by the author, Lauri Kubuitsile. That did not influence my review. Nor was my review influenced by Lauri being here this coming Wednesday to answer some questions about her writing. [Notice how I slid in a plug for a Q&A with her? Hope you all come back for it.] Speaking of coming back, here is a message for all of you. (I composed it using the Glossary in the back of Signed, Hopelessly in Love.) Dumela, tsala. Tla kwano the day after kamoso. There will be magwinya for all….I’m hoping I didn’t just write something that will get me kicked off the Internet. Wait a minute. That might be a good thing. I’d see my family more often. Okay, maybe not such a good thing.