About this book:
“The
last thing April Grace wants is more change in her life—but that’s exactly what
she gets! Plus, April has a new mystery to solve when Myra Sue starts sneaking
around and acting very suspicious!
From snooty new neighbors to starting
junior high to getting a new baby brother to having her grandmother get a boyfriend,
April Grace has had enough change to last until she is at least 87 years old.
But when it rains, it pours, and April
Grace is in for the ride of her life when her prissy, citified neighbor Isabel
becomes her gym teacher and a long-lost relative suddenly reappears and throws
everything into a tizzy. On top of that, April’s sister, Myra Sue, has been
hiding something and sneaking around. April needs to find out what is going on
before her silly sister gets herself into trouble again. More important, will
April find the grace she needs to handle her topsy-turvy life and forgive past
wrongs?”
Series: Book #3 in the “Confessions of
April Grace” series. Review
of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here! There are three books in this original series and the
first book in a new series about April Grace will be republished this summer.
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures & the Lord’s Prayer are mentioned,
read, & quoted (and mixed up); Prayers; Church going (When a pastor says
there’s going to be change, April Grace decides to read the hymnbook instead of
listening to the sermon because she’s had enough change lately); ‘H’s are
capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers
& praying; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, hymns,
& pastors/reverends; Mentions of a Christmas play (Book #2); A few mentions
of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of being a Christian
& acting like Christ; A mention of a revival meeting; A mention of someone looking
old enough to be Methuselah’s great-grandmother; A mention of Billy Graham; A mention
of a teacher’s handouts being as thick as the Holy Bible;
*Note: A few mentions of aliens
& being abducted; A couple mentions of someone having a spray for warding
off negative energy; A mention of the wind howling like a ghost.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘none of your beeswax’, a ‘wimp’, two
‘crud’s, two ‘duh’s, three forms of ‘shut up’, six ‘drip’s, seven ‘stupid’s, fifty-four
forms of ‘dumb’; A couple mentions of
curses (said, not written; including a mention that April Grace and her sister
are never allowed to say the bad language that Isabel and Ian used to use); Sarcasm,
eye rolling, & being a smart aleck; Myra Sue & April Grace bicker &
call each other names (brat, dingbatty, drip, dipstick, dope, doofus, dumb, and
Myra Sue telling April Grace that she “should turn blue”) & April Grace
snoops in her room (when it happens in front of adults or if one says something
not nice about the other, they are reprimanded); April Grace and her best friend
get into a couple arguments and call each other names, but they work it out by
letting things cool down; A couple adults can be mean to another & while
April Grace felt the same way towards this person at first, she realizes by the
end that they aren’t being nice and they need listen to each other (that there’s
another side to every story); *Spoiler* Myra Sue steals money from their mom
and grandma and runs away from home to go to New York to be a star. Everyone is
very worried, but thankfully the police find her before anything bad happens (Myra
Sue realizes that it’s awful out there away from their home) *End of Spoiler*; Being
sick & Throwing up; Mentions of wars & battles; Mentions
of a mother abandoning her daughter twice to a mean aunt that starved and
mistreated her; Mentions of throwing up; Mentions of things that happen to runaways
(such as meeting strangers that hurt them, getting ran over by a car, freezing
to death, or falling off the side of a mountain); Mentions of burglars/robbers/thieves,
robberies, & stealing; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of hatred (including
Myra Sue saying that everyone hates her & no one would miss her if she
disappeared forever); Mentions of cigarettes, smoking, chain smokers, & that
Isabel is trying to quit; Mentions of prank calls; A few mentions of gossip; A couple
mentions of wondering if someone was kidnapped; A mention of an ax murderer; A mention
of jail; A mention of swatting a misbehaving child; A mention of drivers “tell
off” a slow driver;
*Note: April Grace was upset in
Book #2 when it was announced that her mother was pregnant, but now loves her
baby brother and wouldn’t trade him for anything; Myra Sue wears a lot of
makeup to school & washes it off before she gets home because she knows her
parents wouldn’t approve; Mentions of brand names & stores (Kleenex, Bic
pens, Pepto-Bismol, Jell-O, Pepsi, Tide, Purex, Squirt soda, Godiva, Russell Stover,
Barbie, Heinz, Welch’s, Dial soap, Prell shampoo, McDonald’s, Red Lobster, &
Wal-Mart); Mentions of TV shows, soap operas, characters, & hosts (The
Cosby Show, Perry Mason, The Price is Right, Silver Linings, Days of Our Lives,
Another World, Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss?, Bob Barker, & Vanna White); Mentions
of music & groups (Huey Lewis and the News, Hall and Oates, Michael
Jackson, Bon Jovi, & Patsy Cline); Mentions of magazines (Tiger Beat, Soap
Opera Digests, Current Soaps, People, Today’s Theatre, Cosmopolitan, & Young
Model); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of books, characters, & authors; A
few mentions of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes; A couple mentions of
a movie & an actress (The African Queen & Katharine Hepburn); A mention
of Google; A mention of Disney World; A mention of Oscar the Grouch; A mention
of a vampire; A mention of someone being “an all-fired pain in the patootie”; A
mention of April Grace & her friend watching a horror movie (even though
they aren’t supposed to) & ending up staying up all night because of it.
Sexual Content- Mentions of
dates, dating, girlfriends/boyfriends (including April Grace thinking her
grandma has three boyfriends), & Myra Sue not being allowed to date until
she’s 16; Mentions of potential love letters; A few mentions of flirting; A couple
mentions of not wanting to witness any kissy or moony-eyed business between a
couple; A mention of jealousy;
*Note: A few mentions of when Myra
Sue starved herself (an eating disorder, Book #1); A few mentions of that her
mother would never approve of a dress that Myra Sue has; A couple mentions of April
Grace believing that if you’re old you should not wear miniskirts; A mention of
April Grace thinking she’s had enough change for any sixth-grade girl; A mention
of a grandma saying she’s kept her figure; A mention of a man being a handsome
smooth-talker that didn’t want his baby’s mother or their baby (unsure if they
were married or not).
-April Grace Reilly
1st
person P.O.V. of April Grace
Set in 1987
284 pages
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Pre
Teens- 
New
Teens- 
Early
High School Teens- 
Older
High School Teens- 
My
personal Rating- 
This series has a special place
in my heart, sass and all.
I really adore the lessons that
are at the end of this third book and seeing April Grace’s growth. *happy sigh*
Like the previous books, April Grace has such a way with descriptions and her
reactions to different things make me laugh so hard at times. I still don’t
think I would recommend it for girls around her age because of the sassiness/sarcasm
and sibling bickering, but it can be a really fun series for those that are at
least a bit older.
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.
Sounds like a fun book! Thanks for sharing!
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