About this book:
“Adventures, friendships, and faith-testers . . . all under the watchful eye of a great big God.
The Tree Street Kids live on Cherry, Oak, Maple, and Pine, but their 1990s suburban neighborhood is more than just quiet, tree-lined streets. Jack, Ellison, Roger, and Ruthie face challenges and find adventures in every creek and cul-de-sac—as well as God’s great love in one small neighborhood.
In the first book of the Tree Street Kids series, 10-year-old Jack is shocked to discover his parents are moving from their rural homestead to the boring suburbs of Chicago. Full of energy and determination, Jack devises a plan to get himself back to his beloved farmhouse forever. Only three things stand in his way: a neighbor in need, a shocking discovery, and tornado season. Will Jack find a solution? Or is God up to something bigger than Jack can possibly imagine?”
Series: Book #1 in the “Tree Street Kids” series.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures read, mentioned, quoted, remembered, & prayed; Prayers & Blessings over food; A couple talks about God always being with us; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Jack prays that nothing changes at the farm while he’s gone, but figures “praying that nothing changes is like praying your little sister goes a whole week without bugging you.”; *Spoiler* Jack apologizes to God when he realizes the God has been with him through the move & he isn’t the only one who had to move away *End of Spoiler*; Jack’s sister Midge gets the nick-name “Praying Mantis” because she loves Jesus and bugs (“in that order”); Jack recalls memorizing Scriptures in Sunday school and would typically pick short ones; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & Thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, services, youth groups, & meetings; Mentions of WWJD bracelets and shirts (& the meaning); A few mentions of memorizing Scriptures; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of Christmas & Easter; A mention of a nativity;
*Note: Jack isn’t excited about living next to a cemetery, but his sister teases him by saying “Yippee, ghosts!” and make a silly face at them; A boy calls his mother “Mothership” as her name over walk-talkies (thrice); Mentions of aliens, spaceships, Mars, & finding “evidence” of it (proved not to be related to aliens despite some of the kids’ excitement); A mention of Greek mythology (regarding to a constellation of stars); A mention of ghost stories; A mention of Jack’s grandmother saying that tornadoes can “hypnotize” you.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘gah!’, and a ‘what the heck’; Some eye rolling; Some sibling teasing, bickering, & name-calling (such as bratty and dork; one comment by Jack towards his sister makes his parents send him to his room and he later apologizes to her); Three tornado warnings (one: Jack and his family have to go into a storm shelter during a tornado warning which he isn’t scared of it, but is concerned about his pet chicken; two: with a neighbor when their parents are gone (Jack is concerned for their safety); three: Jack goes out in bad weather (green skies) to help a neighbor (he is concerned that his elderly neighbor could be confused or reliving the war; Jack’s sister and friend follow him with the friend saying that his sister “doesn’t listen to authority!”) & sees a tornado off in the distance); Jack is upset about moving & tries not to cry about potentially losing the farm (he acts out a couple times and snaps at his sister, which his parents comment on and disapprove of); Jack’s family is having to move to the suburbs due to the work on the farm, the cost of up-keep, & his grandparents’ ages so he plans to earn money to keep the farm; When Jack first wakes up in the new house, he thinks he’s been kidnapped; Jack isn’t happy about moving & wants to focus on making money to save the farmhouse instead of making friends *Spoiler* Towards the end, a tornado takes out the barn and Jack cries himself to sleep over the news; He tries to focus on the fact that they are all safe and glad he wasn’t in the barn when the tornado happened, but is still sad and says he hates the tornado that did it *End of Spoiler*; Jack has to let his little sister play in his hayloft, but is glad she doesn’t like dolls and that when he tells her not to touch his stuff, she doesn’t (we see this mentioned a couple times); *Spoilers* Jack and the others find a bomb shelter & explore it despite being a little scared (and concerned that someone could be in there, which Midge teases Jack about finding skeletons or someone who could think he’s their lunch, but there’s no one there); Jack is almost trapped in it, but is rescued; The parents of all of the kids aren’t happy about the bomb shelter, but none of them are grounded; Jack didn’t want to tell their moms about it because “Moms are never much for adventures” *End of Spoilers*; *Spoiler* The other kids are upset and hurt by Jack’s plan to move back to the farm as they’ve been unknowingly helping him earn money for it; Jack wishes for everything to be back how it was and his relationship with the new friends are a bit shaky for a few pages *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of World War II, the Nazis, bombs, & bomb shelters; Mentions of tornadoes, damages, & losing something in the storms (buildings); A few mentions of an older man crying due to missing family & hard financial news; A few mentions of “murdering” insects; A few mentions of stinky smells (some diaper related); A few mentions of throwing up (‘barf’ is also used); A couple mentions of Jack’s grandmother thinking about frying his pet chicken (which he reminds her that Henrietta the chick is not breakfast or dinner, but more like a pet); A couple mentions of people concerned about nuclear wars (in the 1960s); A mention of bloody wounds (no details); A mention of a fire; A mention of something sounding like a lie (but Jack really means it);
*Note: Jack’s father only comes home on weekends due to his work & it’s implied that money is tight for the family (which Jack is aware of and there’s a couple comments on possibly being poor); Jack plays video games (Super Mario); The Tree Streets Kids call themselves the “Tree Street Gang” but Jack is told they’re not “like a bad gang”, but are “better than a club”; There are a few book recommendations throughout the book & mentioned (‘A Wrinkle in Time’by Madeleine L’Engle, ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar, ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ by Jules Verne, and ‘Farmer Boy’by Laura Ingalls Wilder; Other books that are quoted from and mentioned but not given as a recommended are ‘War of the Worlds’ by H. G. Wells, ‘The Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, and ‘The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream’); Mentions of brand names & items (Beanie Babies, Game Boy, LEGO, Squeezit drinks, Green River Sodas, & Mountain Dew); Mentions of fictional characters (Mega Man, Ninja Turtles, Batman, Super Mario, & Star Wars); Mentions of a car brand; A couple mentions of Disney movies (including a broad mention of the movies & also 101 Dalmatians); A mention of Jack’s grandfather complaining about politicians with his friends; A mention of a baseball player (Satchel Paige); A dark skinned boy comments on Jack being easy to see in the dark (the boy’s brother tells him not to be rude).
Sexual Content- A teasing joke about Henrietta being Jack’s girlfriend (he makes a face at this tease and the other boy apologizes).
-Jack Finch, age 10
P.O.V. of Jack
Set in 1995
192 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but it was pretty cute! I thought it had the childhood charm well with the neighborhood adventures and I especially liked the illustrations (and map!) throughout the book. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
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.
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