Books for Christian Girls: "Messy Malodorous Malarkey" by K.D. McCrite

About this book:

“An accident on the road. An unexpected wedding announcement.

A slew of long-term, noisy wedding guests who prefer sports to romance and who take over the house. A cheesy-looking school bus parked in the driveway, and messy malodorous malarkey coming from everywhere.

A new friend who isn’t what she seems, and another who is more than April Grace could hope for.

The summer of 1987 at the Reilly home is off to a rousing, hilarious start as April Grace continues to chronicle life on Rough Creek Road.”

Series: Book #4 in the “Confessions of April Grace”/”The Chronicles of April Grace” series. This is a reprinted edition of “Pink Orchids and Cheeseheads”. There are three books in the original series: Review of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here, and Book #3 Here!

Spiritual Content- ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a Sunday school class, a youth group, & reverends/pastors; A few mentions of God; A couple mentions of those & items in the Bible; A mention of a Bible; A mention of being blessed; A mention of Myra Sue putting on face and the attitude of a pitiful martyr; A mention of Isabelle believing that being skinny is one of the Ten Commandments;

*Note: A few mentions of bad luck; A few mentions of April Grace remembering hearing that sometimes when someone is about to die, they feel and see their dead loved ones; A couple mentions of ghosts.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘drip’, a ‘shucks’, a ‘shut up’, a ‘sissy’, a “scared the puddin’ out of all of us”, four ‘golly’s, seven ‘stupid’s, and eight forms of ‘dumb’; Sarcasm, Sass/being a smart-aleck, & Eye rolling; April Grace & Myra Sue fuss at each other and call each other names (brat, sissy, “none of your beeswax”, but much less than the prior books); April Grace & a boy call each other names; When April Grace does something she knows she shouldn’t have done, she squirms and tries to push it to the back of her mind (but she reveals it and it very distraught about what she did); Mentions of a wife killing her husband in self-defense & being in prison (*Spoiler* Lacey’s mother shot her father was abusive and she was afraid that he would hurt Lacey *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of car accidents & someone almost killing themselves in a wreck; Mentions of accidents, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of crimes; Mentions of thieves, stealing, & stolen items (*Spoiler* Someone has kleptomania and calls it a mental illness, while April Grace thinks stealing is stealing, someone else explains it to her that it’s hard to control *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of drinking & moonshine; Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of deaths from the Spanish flu; A few mentions of possible murderers, thugs, & wondering if someone got beat up; A few mentions of a man acting threatening; A few mentions of animal poop; A couple mentions of someone looking like an ax murderer; A couple mentions of Myra Sue running away from home (Book #3); A mention of robbing a bank; A mention of wondering if a husband is going to leave his wife (he’s not);

*Note: Mentions of brand names, items, & stores (Cheerios, M& M’s candy, Lifesaver candy, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Snickers, Lay’s Potato Chips, Corn Flakes, McDonald’s, Weber grill, Chinet, Barbie, Kleenex, Band-Aid, Nyquil, Midol, Vaseline, Ivory soap, Camay soap, Ajax, Comet, Clorox bleach, Lysol, Raid bug spray, a Bic pen, John Deere tractor, New Holland Haybine, Hefty trash bags, JC Penney, Wal-Mart, and a Greyhound bus); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of books, authors, & characters (all classics); Mentions of sports teams & players; A few mentions of a movie, a TV show, & characters (The Sound of Music, Who’s the Boss, & Bugs Bunny); A few mentions of celebrities (Christie Brinkley, Dolly Parton, Julie Andrews, ); A couple mentions of magazines/catalogs (Ideals & Sears).

Sexual Content- Mentions of a grandma’s three boyfriends; Mentions of dates, dating, & boyfriends; A few mentions of adults making goo-goo eyes at each other & being moony-eyed; A couple mentions of April Grace being glad she didn’t see an old couple kissing; A mention of a couple snuggling up together; A couple mentions of Myra Sue talking about cute boys; A mention of a mother not knowing anything about her biological father; A mention of a kiss at a wedding; A mention of jealousy;

*Note: A couple mentions of April Grace comparing her & another girl’s figures and beginning bosoms; A couple mentions of a grandma saying that her bosoms have shrunk after losing weight (but she was actually hunching her shoulders, so they came back); A mention of wondering if a woman stuffed with bosoms with something; A mention of Myra Sue stuffing her bra “until her chest looked like it ought to be on Dolly Parton”.

-April Grace Reilly, age 12

1^st person P.O.V. of April Grace

Set in 1987

287 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

The original April Grace series is one of my favorites I think because she reminds me of Eloise from Eloise at the Plaza (which the Christmas movie is my absolute favorite Christmas movie, in case you were wondering 😉 ) with her wild imagination—just set in the 1980s in the country.

April Grace has grown quite a bit (character-wise, not age) through these four books and it was so much fun to see her and the whole bunch again! I also really enjoyed seeing her with a new friend. I do wish there had been a bit more faith content in this book, though. I’m super excited to see a teaser for the next book in the series! I think I’ll still say the first book is probably my favorite of the series, but this was still an entertaining read.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!