Sincerely: Sincerly, Sophie; Sincerely, Katie

by Courtney Sheinmel

Eleven-year-old Sophie Turner attends an all-girls private school in Manhattan. When Sophie’s family falls apart and her best friend rejects her for a faster crowd, Sophie’s only source of comfort is the distant voice of her school-assigned pen pal, Katie.

Eleven-year-old Katie Franklin lives in California. She is thrilled to be spearheading a charity project with her best friend, Jake—but when Jake starts paying attention to another girl, a jealous and misunderstood Katie is left with one friend she can confide in—her pen pal, Sophie.

This realistic, gentle novel is a testament to the enduring power of friendship—even from miles away.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult

400 pages, ebook

First published May 20, 2010

About the author

Born in California. Raised in New York. Went to law school, now write full time. Love: long walks, fresh notebooks, the smell of brownies, pomegranate seeds. Don't love: yogurt, spam (the email kind, and the food kind), deep water, deserted city streets.

Newest book: THE SECRETS OF LOVELACE ACADEMY, co-written with Marie Benedict, available on April 22, 2025.

I love to hear from readers! Email me! Ask a question! I promise to reply.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sincerely”
Courtney Sheinmel
Realistic Fiction
392 pages
Finished book 11/14/12

I just finished the book “Sincerely”. This book is about a girl named Sophie writing to her pen pal Katie who lives in California. This book includes Sincerely Sophie and Sincerely Katie. Sophie has entered the sixth grade and has realized that her life is not perfect anymore. She noticed that her best friend Jessie has totally changed. Jessie is hanging out with her knew best friends including the girls Lindsay and Melissa. Those girls do not invite Sophie to hang out with them. Sophie is a nice sweet girl but she gets annoyed, sad, and mad when Jessie does not want to talk or hang out with her because she is hanging out with her knew best friends. Sophie is fine with having Jessie have other friends but she thinks Jessie is almost completely forgetting her. Sophie also has a little sister who is in second grade and can be very annoying to Sophie. Her sister’s name is Haley. That explains Sincerely Sophie. Sincerely Katie is all about Katie's family. Katie's parents have never really understood her but at least she always had her best friend, Jake, and her aunt Jean to talk to. Then Jake starts acting more interested in other girls than Katie and Jean seems distracted Katie starts getting jealous. That is the end of Sincerely Katie. Sophie can tell Kate may things about her family and friends that she cannot tell anybody else.

I rated this book a four. There are many positives things about this book. Including great character description and setting description. Also this book is realistic fiction which is my favorite genre. I enjoyed reading the two sections because I could see both sides of the story form Katie's point of view and Sophie's point of view. The only reason why I did not rate this book a five is because this book was an easy read. I had a very hard time finding good vocabulary words. That was a negative thing but everything else I have to say is a positive.

[Rajaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 2 In 1 book. Sincerely Sophie and Sincerely Katie. I enjoyed both (Sincerely Sophie a bit more) its just it seems too average. Most books have a situation between the parents. (A.K.A Divorce) But the author did give Sophie an edge about how she refused to visit her father just so he can know that what he did wasn't okay. My favorite part was how the author joined both girls in the ending.

[Emily J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book I like because it's about two girls who write to eachother because their pen pals. Sophie writes to Katie about personal secrets that she can't tell her sister Haley that would tell her mom in a split second. Sophies parents are getting divorced and her best friend is changing before her eyes. Katie writes about whats happining in school and her Aunt Jane. It's a story about two girls from one coast to another telling eachother secrets.

[Delaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Both Katie and Sophie are going through really rough times. It is definatley something that you should read.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST BOOK EVER! YOU SHOULD TOTTALLY READ IT ITS SOOOOO GOOD.

[Luna Emilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is split into two books so the first book is about Sophie Turner and her life and the second book is about Katie Franklin. This book includes Sincerely Sophie and Sincerely Katie. I just love how Courtney Sheinmel brings the girls together and how they share their experiences by writing each other letters.

This book is about a girl named Sophie writing to her pen pal Katie who lives in California. Sophie has entered the sixth grade and has realized that her life is not perfect anymore. She noticed that her best friend Jessie has totally changed. Jessie is hanging out with her new best friends including the girls Lindsay and Melissa. Those girls do not invite Sophie to hang out with them. Sophie is a nice sweet girl but she gets annoyed, sad, and mad when Jessie does not want to talk or hang out with her because she is hanging out with her new best friends. Sophie is fine with having Jessie have other friends but she thinks Jessie is almost completely forgetting her. Sophie also has a little sister who is in second grade and can be very annoying to Sophie. Her sister’s name is Haley. That explains Sincerely Sophie. Sincerely Katie is all about Katie's family. Katie's parents have never really understood her but at least she always had her best friend, Jake, and her aunt Jean to talk to. Then Jake starts acting more interested in other girls than Katie and Jean seems distracted Katie starts getting jealous. That is the end of Sincerely Katie. Sophie can tell Katie many things about her family and friends that she cannot tell anybody else.

I rated this book a five. There are many positives things about this book. Including great character description and setting description. Also, this book is realistic fiction which is my favorite genre. I enjoyed reading the two sections because I could see both sides of the story from Katie's point of view and Sophie's point of view.

[HAE YOUNG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazingly written and the author planned it out extremely well. I recommend this book to girls that are from 11 years of age to 14. Its about two girls growing up and going through rough times. They get paired as pen pals and they are the only ones they have that are there to listen to them so they really start to open up to each other. Half of the book is about one pen pal, Sophie, and the other half is about the other pen pal, Katie. I really really liked how the two girls met at the end of the story. This book had me in tears and I would definitely recommend for you to read this book!

[Chela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, very strong coming-of-age book.

[Zahra Rose Duxbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Widow’s peak.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Georgianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

peak childhood book tbh

[Liya Stock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book about 2 pen pals named Sophie and Katie. Both Sophie and Katie are dealing with family and friends issues. This is a great book and I totally recommend reading it.

[Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This dual narrative offers heartfelt, realistic portrayals of two 11-year-olds facing friendship challenges, family upheaval, and self-discovery across the country. The pen-pal format beautifully highlights the enduring power of connection despite distance. It’s a gentle, relatable middle-grade read that sensitively tackles themes of change, jealousy, and growing up.

[Shad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sincerely, Sophie Eleven year old Sophie Turner lives in Manhattan and attends an all-girls private school, but some difficult changes have left her feeling very lonely. When Sophie's best friend, Jessie, suddenly rejects her for a faster crowd and the Turner family begins to break down, Sophie's only source of comfort is the distant voice of her school-assigned pen pal, Katie.

Sincerely, Katie

Eleven year old Katie Franklin lives in California, and she thinks life is perfect. When she and her best friend, Jake, spearhead a charity project for earthquake victims in Mexico, Katie couldn't be happier. But when Jake starts paying attention to another girl, Katie get jealous, and does some things she isn't proud of at all. No one at home understands her, but she does have one friend she can open up to--her pen pal, Sophie.

Two realistic, gentle novels in one about dealing with transitions and divorce, friendship and jealousy, Sincerely looks at the enduring power of friendship--even from miles away.




It is an amazing book two in one!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a mini-review of Sincerely:

Sincerely by Courtney Shienmel consists of two books (Sincerely, Sophie and Sincerely, Katie) and follows two 11-year-old pen pals, Sophie and Katie. In Sophie’s story, Sophie deals with her best friend ditching her for a different group of girls and her parents’ divorce. Then, Katie struggles to gain attention from her parents and best friend while organizing a charity run for an earthquake in Mexico.

When I picked up Sincerely, I was expecting a fluffy and lighthearted book, but it was much deeper than that. Both Sophie and Katie struggled with extremely real problems and both of their stories were very character driven. Every character was multi-dimensional and greatly added to the story. This book does have one minor swear word, so if you are a parent and aren’t comfortable with this, then I wouldn’t recommend buying this book for your child. I rate this book four out of five stars.

Originally posted on Beauty and the Bean Boots

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie Turner's life is turning upside down. Her best friend, Jessie is now her former enemy. A boy now likes her which makes Jessie jeaous? She has a bratty sister. Sophie's parents are now divorice. Could her life possibly turn worse? No!things were turning better ever since her birthday! She got her own room, as Sophie wish!She is going to California and vist her pen pal Katie!

Ever since Katie heard the story about a major earthquake in San Francinco. She decide to held a donation program.Her best friend Jake start liking another girl and Katie gets jeaulsy but her aunt start turning pale and Katie does not know what's wrong. With all this puressure on, she is willling to tell this to her pen pal Sophie. Her sister is the prettier version of her.And mom only care about Katie's sister not her.

[Louisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a pretty cute idea. Two tweeny-girl books in one featuring a pair of eleven/twelve-year-old pen pals. Of course, I have my gripes. As independent stories, I think Katie's is far more developed with Sophie's only serving to establish the narrative for both. Katie is spunky but burdened with real problems that I think most sixth grade girls can relate to. And most importantly, she acts like a sixth grader. And her responses to said problems are entirely keeping with the selfish yet sweet tween mentality. Sophie, on the other hand, is kind of annoying and babyish and just too ultimately pliant. I guess, I just wanted her to get angry and stomp around more.

Still...I would recommend.

[malayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading both parts of this two-in-one book.

After reading the whole thing, it is really hard to decide which part I liked better. Both girls have their own problems and successes.

I think that Sophie and Katie are very similar in some ways, but also very different. They both face different problems, but they both end up solving them. Katie also is very determined to help out in the earthquake, while Sophie is more of the type who just wants to live through life.

I think that when they met, it really shows that friendships can be formed from anywhere, even from being mere pen pals.

[Claire Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought sincerely Sophie wasn't the most challenging book, but it was very realistic, and it definitely made me think about my life, and if it were to be like the girl in the story’s life. The book is about a girl in middle school who is starting to lose her best friend to some other girls. On top of that, her parents decide to get a divorce as the book progresses. The author expresses the feelings and of the girl Sophie, and really created very descriptive images in my head as I read the book.

[Fatimah Sallah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book because in sincerely sophie the book was a good book on how to deal with friends who slowly turn away from being your friends and I really would feel bad if a friend (in this case jessie) were to leave and I think that maybe people should choose friends wisely.

In sincerely katie I loved how they would help mexico because of what happened and i hope that everyone would help places in need just like katie did. this book was kinda sad because katie lost a friend named jake because he was spend more time hanging out with his new friend violet.

[Valerie Amarillas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book alot. It was about 400 pages long but worth it. This was two books in one about two girls writing to each like pen pals and telling eachother secrets. I liked it because these girls are at an age where they experience new emotions and how they have a strong friendship connection and tell eachother about what is happeing in life and ask eachother or advice. Such a girl book so a must read for us.

[Olivia Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic book by Courtney Sheinmel. It is about two girls, one, 11 year old Sophie who lives in New York with her sister Haley, her mom and her dad. Meanwhile there is 11 year old Katie who lives in California, with her mom dad, sister Julie and her dog Mooner. They would probably never meet, but when their classes are both chosen for a pen pal program, Sophie and Katie get to know each other really well, but when Katie hears about a earthquake in Mexico she...

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may or may not have borrowed this from my nine year old sister. I think some of the story was a bit heavy for a fourth grader but overall the book was well-written and captivating. The author draws you in to both Sophie and Katie's stories and manages to capture the period of life when everyone starts to encounter moral dilemmas and troubles they had yet to ever experience.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I don't know why, because even though the things were sad throughout the book, I felt a very nostalgic feeling while reading it. I could definitely relate my childhood to those of Sophie's and Katie's. That being said, I did like Sophie's story better, but they did come together very well, and I recommend it to all girls!

[Eve Albino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good. I love books that have letters in them. And the view of the two characters was really cool. :D And I think this book was a good example of regular teenage problems today, and it showed the reader how to solve them which was really cool too.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an excellent book (I know I use excellent a lot) about how too girls can become friends by writing letters for their schools penpal program. They connect to each others lives, and give each other advice. The book consits of two books in one.

[Leena Zitoun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was pretty interesting to read because of the fake but real situations and the connections these two girls can make with each other are amazing, even if they don't know each other.

[Mirabilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for Alex for her 11th birthday!! I thought it looked like a good book.

1/7/13

Surprisingly, this was a very good book. Friendship is key! :) <3

[Hamis]

good