“That’s Not Hay in My Hair” by Juliette Turner

About this book:

  “New York City life had crammed sidewalks, gasoline-filled puddles, and angry taxi drivers, but Juliette enjoyed the towering sky-scrapers, the half-block walk to school, and the restaurant smells wafting into her bedroom. She had never cared for a horse, let alone a long-horn, when her mother announced their imminent move to a 300 acre ranch in Texas, where they would be caring for three horses, five dogs, twenty-five longhorns, and a cat … all by themselves.
  Juliette couldn’t help feeling excited, even though she’d have to climb a hill to get a bar of cell-phone service. Soon she was running from bats and snakes, rescuing a calf from a twenty-foot ditch, medicating ponies, and having adventures so crazy it’s hard to believe they’re for real—but it all happened exactly how it’s written.”


Series: As of now, no.

Spiritual Content- A few prayers (including The Lord’s Prayer) & a Christian school; A couple Scriptures are quoted & mentioned; A few talks about God; Jules doesn’t have any Scriptures memorized & panics when asked what her favorite one is; Jules’ mom always crosses herself before praying, even though they aren’t Catholic; Mentions of God; A few mentions of Bible reading; A few mentions of Church & Sunday School; A few mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of those in the Bible;

*Note: “Hell’s bells” is exclaimed once; “Holy Moses!” is exclaimed four times; A mention of a place being “hotter than Hades”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘blasted’, a ‘bloody’, a ‘heck’, a ‘shoot’, two ‘darn’s, three ‘geez’s, six ‘oh my gosh’s; Eye rolling & a bit of Sarcasm; Pain (up to semi-detailed); A horse is put down (barely-above-not-detailed, but lots of pain for the owners); Many mentions of veterinary stuff, horses in pain & being sick (semi-detailed); Many mentions of animal waste; Mentions of worst case scenarios about cows getting hurt (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of hunting; A couple mentions of dissecting in science class; A mention of a rabbit which was eaten by a snake (barely-above-not-detailed).

Sexual Content- A couple mentions of figures; A mention of a bull that jumped the fence and the owners now have baby longhorns; A few mentions of cows giving birth (up to semi-detailed).

-Juliette “Jules” O’Conner, 11
                                         1^st person P.O.V. of Jules
                                                        235 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Not for sensitive horse lovers. Future Vets will enjoy more.}

“That’s Not Hay in My Hair” had some cute parts, and while I can see younger girls enjoying this book, the writing made it seem more of a collection of crazy things that have happened to the author and her mother. The timeline wasn’t very clear nor fast-pasted. Some things didn’t seem very believable or realistic to me (like Jules’ mom not wanting to shoot a snake with a gun. That’s more than slightly odd to this born-and-raised Texan.) Jules’ mom rubbed me the wrong way most times, acting more like a big sister than a mom, attitude wise. I admire the author being 17 and published, and while I’m sure girls around Jules age may enjoy more, I just didn’t find this book the most enjoyable thing I’ve read.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Zondervan) for this honest review.