About this book:
“Jack Finch’s plan to gobble up tons of turkey over Thanksgiving Break and work on the Tree Street Kids’ fort has been foiled. Instead, the Finches are traveling to the mountains of North Carolina to visit the grandparents Jack barely knows. Thank goodness his best friends Ellison and Roger are coming with him to the cabin on Brambly Bald mountain. But something is lurking in the forest, and soon Jack uncovers a secret bigger than Bigfoot. When the kids come face to face with a real threat, will Jack find a way to protect his friends? Jack braves danger, finds new branches on his family tree, and discovers what it means to be rooted in God’s great family.”
Series: Book #5 in the “Tree Street Kids” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here, Book #2 Here, and Book #3 Here, and Book #4 Here!
Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are quoted, prayed, & read; A few Scripture are quoted & mentioned in bonus content along with how to be a part of God’s family; Prayers; A couple talks about God & those and events in the Bible; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of churches & church going; A couple mentions of Bibles; A mention of the Holy Spirit; A mention of a missionary; A mention of Veggie Tales;
*Note: Mentions of boy calls his mother “Mothership” as her code name over walk-talkies; A mention of superstitions.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘gah’, a ‘gosh’, a form of ‘oh my gosh’, and a form of ‘shut your trap’; Midge calls the others “lily-livered” for being scared of a plan to find Bigfoot; A bit of eye rolling (mostly because of a sibling’s comments); A new character is bossy (which Jack doesn’t plan to take orders from her despite her being older than him); Jack has a few comments about his little sister, Midge (such as giving her candy that will keep her mouth occupied and not talking so much) but are not mean-spirited; Hunting for Bigfoot and the “Beastie of Brambly Bald” in the woods (some of the characters think it’s a bad idea and runaway when they see an animal’s glowing eyes; The group comes across an unnatural footprint; Despite this, Jack doesn’t believe it exists, though, he does freak out once when he thinks he sees it; *Spoilers* It turns out the signs of the Beastie Bald is actually a girl setting it all up to keep Jack and the others away; Jack’s mother grow up believing in the beastie and was very hurt to find out her father wasn’t telling her the truth which has led to their strained relationship for years; Jack’s grandfather did see sightings of the beastie later, however; Towards the end, Midge and Forks sneak out one morning to find the Beastie; At the end, Jack thinks they all believe in it for a moment during a dangerous situation, but Midge knows that it isn’t real and Jack encourages that there’s other mysteries to discover *End of Spoiler*); Facing a bear (the group is scared, but tries to make themselves loud and big to frighten the bear off); A scary moment in a car (Jack’s mother has to swerve hard to avoid hitting something when driving in the dark in the mountains & she’s shaken up by it); Mentions of World War II, war stories, explosions, & a bomb shelter; Mentions of a neighborhood bully (who Jack calls “enemy number one of the Tree Street Kids”); Mentions of some family members not getting along (Jack’s mom talks to him about this because of her relationship with her father); Mentions of hunting; Mentions of pipes, smoking, & tobacco (a grandpa smokes in front of the group of kids); A few mentions of slavery (Ellison says his family can’t trace his ancestors back very far because of slavery and the lack of records by the slave owners); A few mentions of deaths (of parents); A couple mentions of a death of an explorer (bonus content); A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of two girls not knowing their moms; A mention of a concern about a child running away; A mention of when Jack and Midge got lost in the woods (Book #2);
*Note: Many talks about & many mentions of Sasquatch, Bigfoot, and another legendary creature called the “beastie of Brambly Bald” (who Midge wants to look for in North Carolina and hopes to see; The group goes hunting for it and also find a diary about someone else looking for it, see spoilers above); One of the Tree Street Kids’ (Ruthie) mom left home years prior, hasn’t seen her since, and she receives a letter from her inviting her to visit for Thanksgiving (Ruthie isn’t sure what to do; *Spoiler* But her mom ends up spraining her ankle and unable to drive to pick up Ruthie *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of brand names (Popsicles, Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll sucker, Squeezit fruit drinks, McDonald’s Happy Meals, Pizza Dorito, Mountain Dew, & Ivory Soap); Mentions of books, poems, & authors (quoted- ‘To a Mouse’ by Robert Burns, Little Red Riding Hood, & Hatchet; mentioned- The Boxcar Children); A few mentions of fictional characters (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Superman); A few mentions of Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts; A couple mentions of the Loch Ness monster; A couple mentions of Lewis and Clark; A mention of Red Lobster; A mention of Disney World; A mention of Popular Mechanics magazine.
Sexual Content- N/A.
-Jack Finch, age 11
1st person P.O.V. of Jack
244 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I’m not usually one for Bigfoot/Sasquatch storylines, but I actually really like how it all worked out in this story. I do think it was mainly because of Midge—she keeps you on your toes! She makes me laugh with her comments and I think Jack is a very good (and kindly realistic) brother to her. He is protective and while there might be on or two times throughout the series that he wishes to go somewhere without her, she always ends up tagging along and is without a doubt part of the group. This series has been very wholesome partially because of that and how the author has written Jack as a character. I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book—and I hope it’s not the last one of 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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