About this book:
“Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church’s summer camp. They’ll need them! Determined to find Ruthie’s lost cat and protect Jack’s new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they’ve cornered the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing. Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?”
Series: Book #2 in the “Tree Street Kids” series. Review of Book #1, Here!
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, thought over, & used in lessons/sermons; Prayers & Thanking God (including Jack praying about having a dog and later finishing his prayer outside of church, hoping that “God would hear it just as well”); Church going, VBS going, & sermons/lessons; Talks about God & His creation; 'H's are capital when referring to God but not in the Scripture version used; Mentions of God, Jesus; Mentions of prayers, praying, answered prayers, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles & family devotions; Mentions of churches, church going, pastors, sermons, hymns/songs, services, worship service, & youth group (including her grandma sneaking caramels to Midge to keep her quiet during church); Mentions of VBS; A few mentions of memorizing Scripture (a friend of Jack’s has “memorized, like, half of the Bible” and adds that he has memorized “Jesus wept.”; This is comforting to another friend who seems uncomfortable going to VBS); A couple mentions of WWJD; A mention of a Christian;
*Note: Jack and his family live next to a cemetery and Jack knows that there’s no such things as ghosts (his sister comments about watching to catch a ghost and keep it since their mom said no to having a dog); Jack’s dad teases him about having a magic wand; The American Indian legend/story of “How the Coyote Brought Fire to the People” is told at VBS; A boy calls his mother “Mothership” as her code name over walk-talkies (twice); Mentions of ghosts; A mention of a boy beating on his chest “like a caveman”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘duh’, a ‘fish sticks’ (said by Midge when disappointed), an ‘oh my gosh’, an ‘up in someone’s grill’ (said to a bully who is getting in another’s face), a ‘what the heck’, two ‘dumb’, two ‘sheesh’s, and two forms of ‘wimp’; A bit of sarcasm & sass; Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Four close-calls with a coyote (nothing happens besides scaring the main characters); Jack meets the “Tree Street Kids’ enemy number one” which is a boy who calls them “nerds”, is overall mean to and picks on them, & is territorial about the park and woods (when he squeezes a frog too hard, Midge punches him in the stomach as that was advice from her grandma when someone picks on her, but Midge is grounded for doing that); As the bully continues to taunt and make comments towards Jack, he wants to show up the bully and win a competition; Jack thinks that the bully would be more interested in earning a badge in cannibalism than the “Super Steward” badge they’ve been earning at VBS; After Ruthie’s cat goes missing, Jack and the group (minus Midge as this is a mission for big kids) go into the woods to find the cat and hunt down the coyote (we see Ruthie very upset and crying; Jack is concerned that they will be unable to save the cat; Ruthie wants them to kill the coyote and wants vengeance, but another one of the group says that technically they can’t kill anything in a forest preserve; One of the boys is distressed when they go off the trails because his parents said he can’t do that until he’s twelve; *Spoilers* Jack’s dog runs away chasing a scent and when Jack goes after him, the dog falls down a ravine & Jack has the others lower him down to rescue the dog; Jack knows that if the dog rolls down the edge, it could kill him; When they leave the woods, Jack realizes that Midge was following them and goes back to find her by himself; They find each other but have to sleep in the woods and are found but adults the next day *End of Spoilers*); Jack and his little sister, Midge, go outside in the middle of the night to find out what a noise is through the cemetery (without telling their parents and Jack realizes that if something happened to his sister, he would be grounded for life; Their parents are awake when they go into the house and they are given a talk that they no longer live in the country and can’t run off like that); Jack recalls the dog they had that passed away (implied due to old age); Jack finds a dog in a cornfield and wants to keep it, but his grandfather tries to find the owner (*Spoiler* At the end, the owner comes and Jack is sad that he might take Arrow back and will really miss him, but after seeing how much Jack loves the dog, the man decides to let Jack keep him *End of Spoilers*); *Spoiler about missing cat* At the very end of the book, they find Ruthie’s cat in the bomb shelter and that she’s had kittens; She keeps the only female kitten so that the mother and daughter cats can be together (a nod to her mother no longer being in the picture) *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of a bomb shelter (Book #1); Mentions of hitting someone & being picked on (by a bully); Mentions of bullies; Mentions of being grounded; Mentions of coyotes killing and eating pets including puppies (Midge says it’s not the coyote’s fault if people leave “delicious-looking wiener dogs in the yard”); Mentions of a possibly sick cat & not having money to take her to a vet (the friend/girl cries and the friend group does a collection between them for a vet appointment); Mentions of rabies & rabies shots (Jack’s mom warns them about how painful it is and how long the needle is to keep them away from coyotes or other animals with rabies); A few mentions of prisoner of war (pretend); A few mentions of cheating (a bully cheats and Jack is glad to have beaten him despite his cheating); A few mentions of a friend’s mom leaving her family (Midge asks the girl if her mom got lost, but all the girl does is shrug); A few mentions of using the bathroom outside; A few mentions of a boy planning to feed a frog to his pet snake (he also squeezes it hard which causes Midge to punch him); A couple mentions of jail; A couple mentions of bullies at school (who looks like they might eat you); A couple mentions of a youth pastor having a tattoo; A mention of a possible war with Russia (what people were concerned about in the 1960s); A mention of throwing up; A mention of packs of wild dogs snatching chickens on a farm; A mention of a dog bring his owners a mouse or mole; A mention of a dead butterfly (that Midge is studying for scientific research);
*Note: Jack’s father only comes home on weekends due to his work; Jack rigged a “Foolproof Anti-Sister Room Alarm” in his room (that ends up not being foolproof and he plans to fix it); A youth pastor tells the kids they can call him by his first name (which Jack has never done before without putting a Mr. or Miss in front of it); There are a few book recommendations throughout the book & mentioned (‘The Edge of the World’ by Shel Silverstein, ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ by Kate DiCamillo, ‘White Fang’ by Jack London, and ‘Call of the Wild’ by Jack London; Another book that is quoted from and mentioned, but not given as a recommended is ‘Hatcher’ by Gary Paulsen); Mentions of brand names & pop culture references (Nickelodeon Time Blaster clock, LEGO, Tootsie Roll, Snickers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cool Whip, Oscar Mayer, & Old Spice); Mentions of movies, TV shows, & fictional characters (101 Dalmatians, Goosebumps, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, A Christmas Carol, & King Arthur); A few mentions of a poem about thinking if the world is flat (‘The Edge of the World’ by Shel Silverstein) & Midge says that “the world is round. That has been proven.” but does not sound totally convinced; A few mentions of sport teams & a player (Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, & Sammy Sosa); A few mentions of a car brand; A couple mentions of a Brownie (Girl Scouts) troop; A mention of Disney World; A mention of National Geographic; A mention of someone’s face freezing between crying and turning into a werewolf.
Sexual Content- A recalling of when Midge was a toddler and ate a lightning bug saying she “kissed him”;
*Note: A comment on puberty (when Midge describes rabies as making “you grow fur on your face and go crazzzyyy!”, a friend says “no, I think that’s puberty.”); A mention of puberty (Jack thinking that a smaller coyote hasn’t hit puberty yet either).
-Jack, age 10
1st person P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1995
236 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
After reading the first book in this series, I’ve been excited to continue the rest of the books because there is such a nostalgic charm to it—the summer of riding your bike around the neighborhood with your friends and even VBS in this second book! The VBS parts were so fun and I really liked seeing that represented because VBS is some of my favorite childhood memories. I don’t feel like I’ve seen too many books talk about VBS and that was fun element to this story. (Side note: I need a YA contemporary book that has the main girl volunteering at VBS now, please and thank you!)
As a sensitive animal lover, I was a little nervous before going into this book because of the missing pets in the woods where a coyote is known to live, but it was okay for me. It all ends well and I’m very glad about that! Some younger and sensitive animal lovers might have a hard time, though, still so just a heads up for that element!
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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