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Dead Girls Don't Write Letters

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 1,382 ratings · 284 reviews

Sunny Reynold's sister, Jazz, dies in a fire. Then one day a letter arrives, a letter from Jazz. A girl follows. But she can't possibly be Jazz--or can she? She seems to know all the family secrets, but Not-Jazz clearly has a few secrets of her own. Compelling, edgy, and suspenseful, Dead Girls Don't Write Letters will keep you guessing. And just when you think you know wh...more

Paperback, 128 pages

Published August 24th 2004 by Simon Pulse (first published January 23rd 2003)

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Feb 17, 2009 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who wants a good twist

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Nov 10, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

What do you do when your older sister, believed to have been killed in an apartment fire months before, suddenly sends you a letter claiming to be alive and well? If you're Sunny Reynold's, a girl who has always lived in the shadow of her older, much-beloved sister, you wait and day before you tell your parents that their most loved daughter is coming home.

Jazz Reynolds was the "it" girl--popular, outgoing, loved and praised and admired by everyone. When she u...more

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Mar 20, 2008 Lindsey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen, clean, suspense, ladies

Sunny's family is a wreck. Since her sister Jasmine was killed in a fire a few months before, her mother is basically catatonic and her father is always drunk. They thought the world revolved around Jazz, but Sunny knew the truth. Jazz was mean and manipulative, and Sunny is not upset that she's gone.

When Sunny receives a letter from Jazz, she isn't initially concerned. She figures it probably got lost in the mail and tucks it away to read later. No reason to tell her parents, it would just upse...more

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Jan 26, 2009 Maricela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery lovers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *Independent Reading Project*

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters written by Gail Giles is a very catchy book. It's been a while since i haven't read it. This book is also confusing since it's mysterious and while you are reading you have to keep up with it. The main character, Sunny, was living with her whole family but was never feeling loved by her parents. Unfortunately, Sunny's sister, Jazz, was said to be one of the people who didn't survive this fire in her college.
Before this fire Sunny an...more *Independent Reading Project*

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters written by Gail Giles is a very catchy book. It's been a while since i haven't read it. This book is also confusing since it's mysterious and while you are reading you have to keep up with it. The main character, Sunny, was living with her whole family but was never feeling loved by her parents. Unfortunately, Sunny's sister, Jazz, was said to be one of the people who didn't survive this fire in her college.
Before this fire Sunny and Jazz didn't have a very good relationship. They would always argue. When the family was told that Jazz was dead, the parents got really heartbroken and devastated. A few days later, Sunny received a letter from "Jazz". In this yellow letter, written in Jazz's handwriting and ink, she stated that she was not dead and that in reality she had gone to a trip. It also said that she was going to come home the next day. This startled Sunny because it didn't seem reasonable for her to do that plus, she was enjoying herself without Jazz.
When "Jazz" arrived home Sunny still couldn't believe it but her parents did and gave her a great welcome. Sunny started seeing that even though this "Jazz" looked like the real Jazz there was something very fishy about this one. "Jazz" seems to know everything about this family but she has her own secrets. That's when Sunny suspects that this "Jazz" is an impostor. It's up to Sunny to prove that fact so she always kept her eyes wide open.
In the end we see how she has tried to persuade her parents that she is an impostor and that the real Jazz is dead. We also get to see that in the end Sunny receives a letter. What this means is that everything that she has been saying and seeing is actually all part of her imagination. She has some mental problems. I recommend this book to all the mystery lovers. If you have read the book Catcher in The Rye, i would say it is kind of similar specially in the end.
This book makes you want to read none stop so that you could figure out if what Sunny was saying is true or false. There are many details to prove that she is or that she isn't. This book can also be self relating since all families have problems. Sunny's mother was using anti depressants and her father was a drunk. If you want even more details then I would suggest to read this suspenseful story. :)

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Mar 22, 2013 Jennifer Larsson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dead girls don’t write letters

The name of the book is Dead girls don’t write letters and it’s about a girl named Sunny. She had a sister, Jazz, but she died in a fire. Sunnys parents were crushed and her father, Dan, started to drink a lot. Her mother, Lily, took sleeping pills and didn’t do much at all. She lied in bed almost all day. One day Sunny gets a letter from her dead sister, saying that she didn’t accually die in the fire and that she will come home soon. When she finally comes home, S...more

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Mar 02, 2013 caitybug13 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first started to read this book I was wary. It didn't seem to be very well written and the plot seemed a little off. But the more I read, the more I liked it. Although it has been at least a year since I read it, it was the sort of book that when you hear the name, you remember the story automatically.

Sunny is a clever character to begin with. While her family is turning upside down with the news of her sister's death, Sunny stays generally level headed. Then her dead sisters shows up, c...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: eng-580, read-in-2013, young-adult, mystery-crime-detective-fiction

Gail Giles’s Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, is a fast-paced story packed with mystery and suspense. Giles’s novel (or novella) is set in a small town in Texas, where the protagonist, Sunny, lives with and takes care of her severely depressed mother. Sunny’s family was never perfect, but the semblance of normality and happiness they once had disappeared with Sunny’s older sister, Jasmine—Jazz, for short. Jazz left home when she turned eighteen, ran away t...more Gail Giles’s Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, is a fast-paced story packed with mystery and suspense. Giles’s novel (or novella) is set in a small town in Texas, where the protagonist, Sunny, lives with and takes care of her severely depressed mother. Sunny’s family was never perfect, but the semblance of normality and happiness they once had disappeared with Sunny’s older sister, Jasmine—Jazz, for short. Jazz left home when she turned eighteen, ran away to New York where she died in a building fire, or so Sunny’s family is told. This destroys Sunny’s parents, who (Sunny believes) have always loved and admired Jasmine more than anyone or anything else: their father, formerly a talented reporter, falls further into alcoholism and anger, and their mother can barely function, even with Prozac and oodles of sleeping pills; only Sunny, the victim of her sister’s teasing and manipulation, seems to have survived the ordeal and the past year relatively unscathed and intact. But she is bitter. When she finds a letter in the mailbox from her sister, who writes to inform her family that she is not, in fact, dead and will be coming home, Sunny doesn't know whether to be upset or hopeful for her parents’ sake. Sunny must confront more than these confused feelings, though, when the girl who comes come back claiming to be her sister is not really Jazz but a smooth-talking, similar-looking impostor. Sunny’s mom accepts the look-alike as her daughter, but Sunny is determined to figure out the truth: Who is this girl, and how does she know so much about Jasmine, her life, her family? Why would someone steal Jasmine’s identity and life? Who would do this to Sunny’s family, and why?

These questions are answered, but not before Giles introduces layers of suspense, tension, and family drama. I thought that, for the target audience—young teenagers—the suspense was sustained nicely until the “exposition” towards the end of the story. I didn't exactly dislike or disbelieve the explanation given for the mystery that I (and readers in general), like Sunny, had become invested in, but I did think it was underdeveloped and hurried in relation to the rest of the story. Everything after the exposition was the same: rushed, a birds-eye view of what followed for Sunny and her family that brushed on but didn't resolve the family and identity issues Sunny dealt with in the preceding pages. On the whole, though, I found this to be a fun little read, reminiscent of my beloved Lois Duncan novels from my “tween” years.

I think that the ALA was right to market this book to reluctant readers; I also think that “tween” readers would find this novel engaging and fun to read. The story is fast-paced and captivating from the get-go: the first sentence introduces a mystery, and what follows is packed full of surprises, suspense, and new questions that will keep readers reading on. There are not difficult words, concepts, or narrative elements that will trip up readers, just a mystery enmeshed in a broken family’s problems. I don’t mean to imply that this book is overly simplistic or “fluff”; rather, it reminded me of a tightly woven mystery-suspense movie or TV show. Far from being “simplistic,” the novel raises questions and considerations about family, truth, belonging and acceptance, and identity. The ending could produce different interpretations, which might be a launching point for discussion and analysis in classroom or group discussions of the book.

**Picked this up from the Public Library during class visit**
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Oct 27, 2012 Alyia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters by Gail Giles was a good book. The book is about Sunny, a girl who has always lived in her older sister Jazz's shadow. Everyone was always comparing Sunny to Jazz. No matter what Sunny did she was never as good as Jazz. Everyone thought Jazz was the nicest, smartest, prettiest girl in the world, only Sunny saw the nasty, disturbing side of her sister. Behind closed doors Jazz was constantly saying cruel things to Sunny, she also would blame things on Sunny. Most o...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Eden rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed-from-the-library

Sunn's sister is dead. The apartment she lived in caught on fired and burned to the ground. No one had heard from her sister, Jazz, and so she was presumed dead. Things haven't been good for the Reynolds family since Jazz's death. Their father is drinking way than ever and their mother had a breakdown. Sunn has just been doing her best trying to take care of things. But then, a letter comes in the mail. It says it is from Sunn's sister Jazz. But how can this be? Her sister is dead.

At first I wa...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-books, mystery

Although this book is sometimes listed as a children's book, I would only recommend this book to more emotionally mature children between the ages of 10 and 12. Really, it is more of a young adult novel. The writing style and language is easy enough for probably even 8 to 10 year olds to understand, but the themes this book deals with are very dark, such as depression, alcoholism, hatred, and escapism. These are important things for children to understand, but this book presents them in a very b...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Sara Foster rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sara by: Read for Battle of the Books at Silver Hills Middle School

A tragedy strikes the Reynolds family. Sunny's beloved older sister, Jazz, was killed in an apartment fire and her parents have gone off the deep end: mom to crying jags, depression and pills and dad to alcohol and disappearing acts. As happens in many YA novels, the main character is lost in the shuffle and often becomes the only one keeping the family afloat. In this story, Sunny, the long overshadowed younger sister is that person.

Early in the story a letter arrives from Sunny's supposedly d...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Mandy Roth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dead Girls don't write Letters
Gail Giles- Suspense/mystery

Sunny's sister Jazz, the crowned jewel of the family, died in a tragic apartment fire and Sunny is left picking up the scraps of the family, trying to keep them from all going insane. Her father is a drunk and her mother is in a drug-reliant depression. Things aren't great, but at least Sunny isn't ignored like she was when Jazz was around. And then, a letter appears from Jazz stating that she didn't die in the fire after all and she's co...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Sandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After re-reading the book with more time and focus, I found myself feeling like this was a "forgetable" book. I still found the character of Sunny very flat for a protagonist and I like reading novels that are geatly character driven. Sunny didn't seem to drive the novel for me. Actually non-Jazz seemed to drive the story more for me.

About believing in non-Jazz, I find myself on the fence. I don't want to believe that Sunny went crazy, however that would be a logical reaction to losing a sister...more

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Jul 14, 2010 God O'Wax rated it 2 of 5 stars

*Some SPOILERS* This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't particularly good either. At first, I found myself empathizing with the main character quite a lot, and the basic premise was very interesting. I liked the idea of someone showing up as a dead relative, and how a family would deal with that intrusion into their lives - as blessing or impetus for total meltdown. However, I felt that it wasn't all that believable - who would go along with this for so long? and the end was far too abrupt. There...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Kristyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One day Sunny receives a letter from her recently deceased sister Jazz. The letter is written with Jazz's handwriting and on her traditional yellow paper. Sunny is confused but decides to tell her overly medicated depressed mother and alcoholic father. When Jazz arrives however they soon discover this is not the real Jazz. Sunny and her father are on the case but when the flood gates open Sunny discovers things are especially not what they seem.
This story had an interesting premise and I think...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

From the very first page, the reader is introduced to Sunny, a character living in an unstable situation. Her mother is addicted to pills and Sunny's morning routine involves Sunny checking on her. Her father is an alcoholic. This itself will make young readers eager to know if Sunny's life will improve by the end of the book. When Sunny's no longer dead sister Jazz (who may be an impostor) enters the story, the reader is confronted with needing to decide whether or not Jazz is the real Jazz, wh...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Derek rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Jul 14, 2010 Christian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Jul 12, 2010 Marian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, readit

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Jun 16, 2010 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: quick-read, suspense-thriller, realistic, teenagers, families, death-of-a-sibling, siblings, sisters, young-adult-fiction, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sunny’s sister Jazz ran away to NYC and died in a fire. When Sunny heard, she was secretly glad, because Jazz had been the bane of her existence. Things were not easy after her sister’s death, however – her parents basically fell apart. Her father drowned his sorrows in alcohol and her mother retreated into a quiet refuge of psychiatric drugs. Sunny was left to handle things as best she could. Then, one day, a letter arrives – a letter from Jazz – which reveals that she’s not dead after all and...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Sylvia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

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May 01, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of those really short books that you can sit down and read in under two hours.
I found that I got really into the story very quickly. in medias res is literally how the author took this, and then did some very loose back tracking so you understood the tension between Jazz and Sunny. When you did understand that, Jazz and Sunny were pretty decently developed characters for only having 126 pages to create them in when sometimes it takes hundreds and hundreds of pages to really get a...more

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Mar 24, 2010 Olivia rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the book Dead Girls dont write letters, the main character Sunny gets a letter from her sister Jazz who was pronounced dead. But Sunny was happy when her sister "died". Everything was about Jazz. All the attention was put on her. Sunny needed some too. So when Jazz "died", there was something in Sunny that was a sign of relief.
"Yes, indeedy. Everybody misses Jazz. Everybody but me."

I think that this is INSANE!!! Ok it must feel terrible for Sunny to get no attention, but to be happy when you...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Asho rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-but-do-not-own

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Sep 08, 2011 Reeya P. added it

While I was reading the book Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, I was so interested in it. When I was reading and in school and I wasn’t allowed to read any longer I just couldn’t put this book down, honestly! It might just be one of the best books I have ever read because it was somewhat of a mystery that you had to figure out, and it gave clues to help you solve who “Not-Jazz” really was. It was about a normal family being ripped apart by the tragic death of the oh so perfect Jasmine or Jazz for...more While I was reading the book Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, I was so interested in it. When I was reading and in school and I wasn’t allowed to read any longer I just couldn’t put this book down, honestly! It might just be one of the best books I have ever read because it was somewhat of a mystery that you had to figure out, and it gave clues to help you solve who “Not-Jazz” really was. It was about a normal family being ripped apart by the tragic death of the oh so perfect Jasmine or Jazz for short. I loved the way the author, Gail Giles wrote this book. It was a suspenseful story that I couldn’t stop reading. Although it was a short book it was packed with intriguing clues and untold stories that were able to crack the case wide open. I loved the ending of this book, it was a little bit confusing, and so I had to read it again. The author could have just left it that Jazz was an imposter and she was lying, but the ending had a little twist which was a brilliant way to keep the reader interested until the end. You are really going to have to read this yourself to experience the level of excitement I experienced by reading this book. You can’t put it into words. It is a quick read, but a quick read that will blow your mind! I would recommend this book to kids ages 11 and up. It is suitable for almost any age group which I think is great!
This would be a great book for a book club, because while you’re reading, so many questions are strolling through your mind. Really deep, discussable questions that can really get a book club talking and engaging with the book. All the questions you might have will be answered in the end! In the beginning when Jazz wrote the letter I really thought she was still alive, but something made me think that this book couldn’t be over so quick and I knew that something else had to happen and go wrong. At that part I made a prediction that Jazz wasn’t really Jazz, just someone pretending to be her. While I was reading this book it reminded me of this one movie called The Roommate. It was about a girl whose sister died just like Sunny’s sister died, and her roommate became obsessed and wanted to be just like her she even got a matching tattoo! That movie kept popping into my head as I was reading.
If I had to rate this book I would rate a 9.5. The only reason that it’s not a 10 is because I wish it was longer. I wish it wasn’t so short, so that I could continue to read it and make more predictions, connect more with it, and ask more questions about it. I still have an unanswered question whatever happened to the fake Jazz the family just let her go. I wonder maybe she will continue to become new people and ruin and tear families apart, or did she learn her lesson? I also wonder if there is a sequel, if so I defiantly want to read it! Here is how interested I am in this book, I was reading it in class and my table members noticed the facial expressions I was making. They said it was almost as if I were lost in the book and scared of something. When I really get into a good book I can’t help, but to make facial expressions. That is exactly what had happened there. Anyways overall a phenomenal book here and I strongly recommend that you give a shot and read it. Yes, it was that good!
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Jan 22, 2011 Michelle. Tsunami. rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I was actually really lazy to finish reading this book. I'm actually really glad I did though.

One of my favourite points about this book is how they know that she's not Jazz. To make things "better", they call her Not-Jazz. haha.

OK, so the girl who is pretending to be Jazz(I'm gonna call her Not-Jazz even though she has an actual name).She is pretty phsyco. Crazy scary. "Dangerous", like certain people describe her. I think that her Jazz "identity" i the second one she's stolen, correct? The thi...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Lthelibrarylover rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was weird…
I have a feeling that I have read a book similar to this before where someone dies and then an imposter tries to pretend to be the dead person and expects to be welcomed by the family. Perhaps it was this same book that I read many years ago. I liked the suspense of trying to figure out if it really is the person magically somehow alive or if it was an imposter… however it was the only thing I enjoyed from this book. The characters were lacking depth. It was like sure sunny i...more

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Dec 06, 2007 Susan P rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: middle schoolers who like suspense

Shelves: potential-booktalks, ya-fiction

I read this when it first came out, but just re-read it in anticipation of booktalking it to middle schoolers in January. There's a bit of language and some uncomfortable situations like the dad's drinking and the mom's addiction to anti-depressants, but I'm hoping that the teens can overlook that part and just enjoy the story. Has anyone else booktalked this one? And if so, to what age group?

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Jan 17, 2013 Becka dittmann rated it 3 of 5 stars

I thought the book was okay. The beginning captured my attention and kept me reading. It starts off with Sunny getting a letter from her dead sister saying that she wasn’t really dead. Her sister Jazz supposedly died in a fire a while ago and now they find out that she wasn’t really dead. Jazz tells the family that she will be coming home to live with them and they are all excited. When she gets there thought Sunny and her dad look at each and right away they both know. The girl that walked in t...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Caitlyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

this book made me feel so sad just to think that someone would even have a favorite child kids get this at school they don't need to get it at home and having a drunk dad and a depressed mom isn't easy either and having think your older sister died in an apartment fire and getting a letter from her saying that she is alive and coming to visit was strange enough for this girl but having a person come to your house and not be your sister but she knows everything she does and you and your dear old...more

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About Gail Giles

Gail Giles is the author of four young adult novels. Her debut novel, Shattering Glass, was an ALA Best of the Best Book, a Book Sense 76 selection, and a Booklist Top 10 Mystery for Youth selection. The novel is about an high school boy named Simon Glass that is helped to become one of the most popular dogs in school by other students. Her second novel, Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, was an ALA...more

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