Books for Christian Girls: "Abbie's Woods- Defending the Nest" by Susan Thoegerson Maas

About this book:

“Twelve-year-old Abbie Keegan loves the peaceful woods behind her house and watching the nest of baby robins. The woods provide a retreat from her parents’ constant bickering and from her sweet, but needy, little brother, Patrick.
Then Abbie sees two boys breaking pop bottles in the pond. She refuses to allow such harm to “her” woods. However, every attempt she makes to stop the boys only provokes them to greater destruction. Her retreat becomes a place of fear, instead of peace. A feud is born, and Abbie feels helpless to stop it. At home, her parents seem close to divorce and her brother’s asthma is getting worse. How can Abbie protect the people and places she loves?”

Series: As of now, no. A stand-alone book.

Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, forgiveness, & accepting the answer He gives even when you don’t like it; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying (including the only time Abbie and her brother heard her father pray was when Patrick was very sick); Mentions of churches, church going, children’s church, praise songs, & a sermon (including that Abbie’s father doesn’t go to church with them anymore *Spoiler* but at the end says he will *End of Spoiler*); A couple mentions of blessings.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘drat’, a ‘hush up’, a ‘what the…’, four ‘idiot’s, four ‘shut up’s, and eight ‘stupid’s; Mentions of curses (said by a seventh grade boy, not written out); Abbie calls a couple of boys a jerk (because he purposely broke a glass bottle in a pond); A bit of eye rolling & sarcasm; Fighting (up to semi-detailed); A fire & smoke (up to semi-detailed); Abbie lies a couple times & also doesn’t say complete lies, but does hid the full truth from her mom; A bully shoots and kills a baby bird with a pellet gun (barely-above-not-detailed); A bully tears apart a kid’s book to be mean; *Spoiler* Abbie, her mom, and brother came home after church one day to find all of her father has moved out; Her mother sobs & later says her and Patrick are not at fault for this happening; Abbie and Patrick come up with a plan to fake an asthma attack to get their parents back together (which doesn’t go as they hoped and gets them in trouble); At the end, her parents say they will get counseling *End of Spoiler*; All about many mentions of Abbie’s parents’ constant bickering/arguing/fighting, Abbie preferring not to be home (because of it and the tenseness in the air after they argue; it upsets her younger brother a lot and Abbie tries to comfort him), & Abbie and her brother being concerned about their parents getting a divorce (both of them wonder if they’re the problem and make a list of ways to help them, like cleaning and making dinner/breakfast) (this includes her mom getting upset at her dad, someone sleeping on the couch, and comments by her mom such as her wondering if their marriage is a joke to her husband, after the kids do something for her that “it’s nice to be appreciated”, asking her husband if her opinion even matters to him, & telling him to grow up); Many mentions of littering, vandalism, & a boy trying to hit a bird’s nest and baby birds with his pellet gun (by two boys around Abbie’s age to the woods by her house; she cleans up after them and scares them off by throwing rocks at them instead of talking to them first or talking to an adult); Mentions of someone’s father being in jail for child abuse & his children being beaten and their scars (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of asthma attacks & allergic reactions (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of blood/bleeding & injuries; A couple mentions of a rumor of a boy who punched another boy and wouldn’t apologize; A couple mentions of kids throwing gum and candy wrappers at Abbie on the bus; A mention of manure; A mention of Abbie’s mom keeps an eagle eye on their computer, afraid that the kids will visit “some nasty site or something”;
             *Note: After Abbie tells an adult that they want to get something nice for their mom, the adult tells her and her brother that “kids can’t make their parents happy, you know. Some things are bigger than you.” But Patrick responds that they can at least try; A mention of FaceBook; A mention of Dr. Seuss; A mention of Boy Scouts.

Sexual Content- A wink & a blush; A couple mentions of parents kissing; A mention of Abbie’s mom being concerned about Abbie being alone in the woods because of perverts & “what could happen to Abbie if someone got a hold of her” (her father says that Abbie will be fine because she’s a smart girl and knows how to take care of herself);
             *Note: A mention of Abbie looking through her mom’s magazines to see how a husband could impress his wife & that some of the “ideas were a bit R-rated”.

-Abbie Keegan, age 12
                                1^st person P.O.V. of Abbie
                                                        189 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Could be triggering for girls whose parents have divorced or separated }

This short middle-grade book tugged at my heartstrings much more than I was expecting it to do so. I thought it would be mainly about Abbie and defending her woods, but that was about 40% of the story and the other 60% was about her parents’ arguing and her concern of a divorce happening. I really felt for her little peacemaker heart. She cares so much about her family and the birds in the woods.

I did really like the writing style and thought it was very realistic for a pre-teen, but it was nice that there was no slang found in the book. It does deal with tougher topics like parents arguing, a baby bird being killed, a bully, and a father in jail for child abuse, though, so please take in account for potential young readers.

See y’all on Monday with a new review!