Reviewed by Stacy Cervenka
At the beginning of If You Find This Letter, Ona Gritz’s beautiful middle grade novel-in-verse, thirteen-year-old Dani is convinced that her mother’s rules are ruining her life. Her friends stay out later, travel farther on their own, talk about boys, and seem to be moving into another stage of their lives. Meanwhile, Dani is required to be home early, always respond to her mom’s texts, and not leave her New York City neighborhood without an adult. Her mother’s overprotectiveness feels unfair and embarrassing, especially when it means leaving hangouts earlier than everybody else and not being able to join friends for a day in Central Park. Although, honestly, she’s beginning to wonder if her two best friends even want her around anymore in the first place.
Then, while perusing old books in a small neighborhood shop, Dani stumbles across a folded letter tucked inside a used copy of a fantasy novel. The letter is from a girl named Mimi who invites whoever finds it to write back. Curious, and a little lonely, Dani writes back and tucks her own letter into the book. Soon the two girls begin exchanging letters, leaving them hidden in the same book like a secret mailbox.
They write about school, music, books, and the many frustrations of being thirteen. Mimi talks about riding the Staten Island Ferry and visiting the Alice statue in Central Park. Dani writes about her complicated friendships and her growing resentment toward her mother’s strict rules.
But as their letters continue, Dani starts noticing strange details. Mimi has never heard the terms “ghosting” or “BFF.” She’s never even heard of Taylor Swift! Slowly, Dani realizes something extraordinary: Mimi isn’t just writing from somewhere else—she’s writing from another time.
As the clues fall into place, Dani begins to understand something even more unsettling. The girl she is writing to is heading toward an event that will change her life forever. Suddenly Dani faces an impossible question: if she can change the past, should she? Would it be better for Mimi? And what might it cost?
Dani begins the novel convinced that her mother’s fears have made her life smaller. But through her growing friendship with Mimi, she slowly gains a deeper understanding of the experiences that shape adults into who they are today.
One aspect I especially appreciated about the book was its portrayal of the disability community, and, even better, the disability rights movement, which is shown not just as a civil rights movement, but as an interwoven part of its’ members’ families and lives. Dani’s mother is an accomplished professional violinist who lost her leg in an accident. Some of the book’s most joyful moments involve the disabled community that surrounds Dani’s family. Dani grows up hearing stories about her mother and her friends’ activism. Disability is not only framed as a personal characteristic, but as a shared political and communal identity.
At one point, the novel recalls:
Remember the march
in Washington?
That protest uptown?
The time we sued
that theater
so they’d make space
for wheelchairs?
In my favorite anecdote in the book, we learn that Dani’s mother met her father when he was working as a lawyer representing her and her friends in a lawsuit against a theater that refused to make space for wheelchair users. That kind of unapologetic disability rights goodness felt refreshing to see in a middle grade novel. The book doesn’t soften or apologize for disabled peoples’ fight for equal access. It celebrates it as the source of a happy marriage.
Those details also deepen the story’s emotional stakes of Dani’s correspondence with Mimi. She gradually begins to realize that difficult and painful life events are also the experiences that shape our friendships, our passions, and even the way our families come to exist. Changing the past might erase pain, but it also erases the relationships and moments that grow out of it.
Another strength of the novel is its portrayal of adolescent friendship. Dani spends much of the book worried that her two best friends are drifting away from her as their interests change. Their dynamic captures something very real about middle school: the moment when friendships start to shift as everyone grows in slightly different directions. The story doesn’t treat those changes as simple betrayals or tidy lessons. Instead, it explores the misunderstandings and insecurities that can develop when friends stop talking honestly about what they’re going through.
Through her letters with Mimi, Dani receives advice and encouragement that helps her see herself, and all the people around her, with more generosity. What begins as a mysterious literary device becomes something deeply moving.
Ultimately, If You Find This Letter is a story about Dani’s emerging gratitude for the mother, family, and life she has.
Quite frankly, I was a little worried going into this book. A novel written in verse? Did that mean it was all going to rhyme? (No.) Was it going to be esoteric and abstract? (Also, thankfully, no.) I’m not generally a fan of science fiction, magical, or fantasy elements in stories. Although this book does contain some low-key time travel for Dani and Mimi’s letters, they serve the very realistic human core of the story, deepen authentic relationships, and are a conduit for intergenerational understanding.
If You Find This Letter is an emotionally rich novel that combines a touch of magical realism with a deeply grounded exploration of family and disability. Readers who enjoy stories about family, friendship, and discovering hidden connections across generations will find much to love here.
Title: If You Find This Letter
Author: Ona Gritz
Publisher: West 44 Books
Year: 2026
Read Ona Gritz’s review of Roxie in Color in this issue of Wordgathering.
Back to Top of Page | Back to Volume 19, Issue 2s – Spring 2026
About the Reviewer
Stacy Cervenka is the Director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and previously led the Blind Parents Group of the National Federation of the Blind. She divides her time between Des Moines, Iowa and Lincoln, Nebraska, where she lives with her husband Greg and children Leo and Josephine. Her debut middle grade novel with Diane Debrovner, Roxie In Color, was published by Candlewick Press.