About this book:
“Sixteen-year-old Chloe Gabriels has dreamed of going on an overseas mission trip for as long as she can remember, so when the opportunity arises for her to go to Thailand with Teen Missions International she jumps at the chance. Working at an orphanage, learning new skills, experiencing a different culture, making lifelong friends—what better way could there be to spend her summer vacation?
Of course, the trip will have its challenges—living in close quarters with seventeen other teens out of their comfort zones has a way of doing that—but it will be worth it. She’ll finally be serving God in a practical way.
But while the orphans and their stories break her heart, it’s someone unexpected who has the biggest impact on Chloe’s summer and leaves her wondering if maybe there are just as many people who need her love back home as there are overseas.”
Series: It seems to be a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- All twenty-five chapters start with a Scripture at the beginning; Scriptures are read, mentioned, memorized, & discussed; Bible reading; Prayers, Thanking God, Blessings over food; Church going, services, & singing a hymn; Puppet shows about Bible stories; Witnessing; Many talks about God, His will, faiths, callings/dreams, testimonies, mission trips, those and events in the Bible, & Scriptures; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God and Jesus; Chloe has dreamed about going on a mission trip for years, ever since God whispered into her heart that she was going to be a full-time missionary one day; Chloe struggles to write her testimony as there wasn’t a “turnaround experience” because she grew up in a Christian home and always knew that God was a part of her; An assistant leader tells Chloe that that is her testimony and that it’s an awesome one so many would love to have, but Chloe is unsure because it doesn’t have loss like all the other testimonies; Chloe writes her testimony about always knowing God; When Chloe thinks that she’ll get a difficult teammate as her secret prayer partner, Chloe thinks about how God isn’t vindictive, “just far more interested in the “big picture” and a person’s growth than their comfort” & isn’t thrilled about having to pray and encourage the girl; This is a major challenge for Chloe & an assistant leader encourages her to remember that orphans aren’t the only ones that need to be reminded that God loves them; Chloe feels peace & God talk to her and comfort her; Chloe struggles with why God would let the girls at the orphanage have such hard lives (someone talks to her about this and they have a deep discussion that He does care, even more than they do); Chloe feels Jesus near when their team is praying; All about Chloe’s mission trip to Thailand, wanting to be a missionary one day, her excitement for the trip, & the things she learns; Many mentions of God, Jesus, trusting Him, faiths, & mission trips; Many mentions of devotional time, memorizing Scriptures, Bibles, Bible reading, Bible studies, books of the Bible, those and events in the Bible, & doing puppet shows of Bible stories; Mentions of prayers, praying, prayer partners, prayer teams, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, sermons, youth groups/leaders, & pastors; Mentions of worship & a group of girls singing to God sounding like angels; Mentions of God-given callings/dreams, testimonies, & sharing them; Mentions of missionaries & how Chloe would read biographies on them and them being her heroes (Amy Carmichael, David Livingstone, and Mother Teresa are mentioned); Mentions of miracles; A mention of a Christian school; A mention of a blessing; A mention of a woman might as well being a saint for being good at everything;
*Note: Those who break the Teen Missions’ rules are given “Special Blessings” which is extra work to do; A hint to evolution (when Chloe sees a waterfall, she thinks “how could anyone see something like this and not believe in God? It would take far more faith for me to believe something like this happened by accident than by design.”); A few mentions of aliens; A couple mentions of the temples around Thailand; A mention of Santa.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: twelve forms of ‘stupid’; Eye rolling & sarcasm; Being sick (heatstroke), dizzy, & almost passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of the deaths & possible deaths of parents (including by cancer); Mentions of pranks (such as short-sheeting beds, laxative-spiked drinks, moving beds, and water balloons); Mentions of squatty potties & trying to use them; Mentions of throwing up/vomiting & eating bugs; Mentions of hatred; A handful of mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of some of the girls at the orphanage watching their parents die & being distraught when someone is sick as they think the person will die too; A few mentions of the possibility of being robbed & thieves; A few mentions of the mission trip not allowing drinking, smoking, drugs, bad language, card playing, or dancing; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of rumors; A couple mentions of slavery; A couple mentions of glittery poo; A mention of possibly being kidnapped; A mention of parties & partying; A mention of a driver giving an angry gesture;
*Note: A teammate is difficult for everyone & Chloe thinks of her as an “irrationally emotional, constantly complaining, demanding mommy’s girl. And a drama queen to boot.” (Chloe tried to befriend her, but the girl was rude and said she didn’t want to be friends with her; We hear many of the girl’s complaints and negative comments; As the book continues, Chloe wonders if she was too quick to judge her, but the girl often makes rude and arrogant comments that makes Chloe frustrated; The girl is bitter and says she hates everyone on the team *Spoiler* Chloe feels like God is telling her to continue to try to reach out to the girl, but Chloe says no; Past the half-way point, Chloe is told that Skye’s mother is really sick with cancer that recently came back and that she may not live another two years; This hits Chloe hard and she has a dream that it was her family going through it which changes her perspective on the girl’s personality and tries harder to be kind and pray for her *End of Spoiler*); A teammate teases Chloe about hating people like her who find the good in everything; Chloe’s mission trip is to an orphanage/refuge for young girls that some call the “forgotten children” & there discussions of how the girls ended up in their care (including some being ‘true’ orphans, some being sent away from their families due to being ill or too poor, some of the girls clinging to the bodies of their dead parents, & how some girls who have not been rescued are sold as slaves to brothels; Chloe thought that all of the girls would be orphans and realizes that isn’t the case); Chloe says that she tends to panic a lot & we see some of that with ‘what-if’s and her fear over possible events; Mentions of TV shows & fictional characters (Funniest Home Videos, Play School, Doctor Who, & Pippi Longstocking); Mentions of brand names (Spam, Pepsi, Band-Aid, Streets and Magnum ice cream, & Oreos); A few mentions of the Teen Missions crew that Chloe is going with ruling out secular movies and listening to music during their training and on the flight (this makes the teens get to know the other); A few mentions of cricket athletes; A couple mentions of Chloe and her near-in-age sister sometimes being best friends when they weren’t comparing each other or competing; A mention of McDonald’s; A mention of yoga mats (to sleep on).
Sexual Content- It is said that girls who are not rescued by the mission as sold as slaves and sold to brothels “where they are abused, raped, and tortured for the rest of their lives. Many of those girls won’t even live to [sixteen or eighteen].” (This is a kick in the stomach to Chloe and she doesn’t understand why God would allow this to happen or how people could be so evil and cries herself to sleep after learning this); Chloe has a dream where she and her sister are sold to cover debts and wakes up after an evil man grabs her away from her parents (she knows it’s just a dream and her parents would never do that, but it shakes her and gives her a perspective on it); A handful of mentions of human trafficking, slavery, & brothels; A couple mentions of pairing up with the opposite gender not being allow on the mission trip; A mention of wolf whistles;
*Note: There is a rule for clothing to be tucked in that some of the teens complain about, but Chloe views it with the thought of “who knew what an untucked blouse or bit of skin might mean to a different culture?”; Mentions of a missionary couple unable to get pregnant, spending tens of thousands of dollars for medical intervention, still not able to get pregnant, & their grief; A few mentions of underwear.
-Chloe Gabriels, age 16
1st person P.O.V. of Chloe
224 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Add up to a full star for teen girls interested in the mission field and/or going on mission trips.}
I’ve been super excited about this book ever since I first heard about it and I’m so exited that it was all I was hoping for and more!
First off, Chloe. She’s got a great attitude about everything and I think we could have been best friends when I was sixteen. Some might call her a goodie-two-shoes or too upbeat, but as someone who has been called both, I really liked her. :)
I found myself laughing at times with the antics of the team. This book brought back so many little details reminded me of my team and our trip to China--the team meeting in an airport, the squatty potties, the night market, the bargaining, the painting, the handprints of the wall, the adorable kiddos, and even the fear of leaving your heart behind in another country. Well done to the author, I need more books like this in the Christian YA market.
It was also really nice to go into this book knowing that there was no romance and it was very refreshing because of that and the mission trip elements. The main focus of this book was the mission trip, the kids, and Chloe’s heart which I just enjoyed so much. I think any teen who has an interest in mission trips or the mission field ought to check this book out.
This book highlighted how little I knew about Australia and my search history will attest to that as well, haha! Overall, I highly enjoyed this book and had to tab (and even underline) many parts while reading.
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.
