About this book:
“Set in 1886 when the Statue of Liberty was dedicated.
Ten-year-old Kimberly Dawn is trying to figure out what it means to "be a good witness," but is quickly discovering it's not as easy as she'd hoped. Her grandmother shares the story of Sarah Jane, a youngster from their family who traveled from Pennsylvania to New York to see the Statue of Liberty in the late 1800's. Through the life of this remarkable little girl, Kimberly learns what it means to "let your light shine."”
Series: Book #4 in “The Eleanor” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here, Book #2 Here, and Book #3 Here!
Spiritual Content- Matthew 5:16 at the beginning & quoted; Many other Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, thought about, remembered, & shared throughout the story and bonus content at the end; Prayers & Thanking God; Singing songs where the lyrics are on-page (‘This Little Light of Mine’ and ‘The Cross Is My Statue of Liberty’ by Neil Enloe); Talks about God, Jesus, asking the Lord into your heart, being a good witness, sharing the gospel with others, & freedom; 'H's are capital when referring to God and Jesus; Kimberly wants to be a good witness, but sometimes finds it hard because some of the kids at her school make fun of her for being a Christian; Sarah Jane wants to be a Christian that lets her light shine and be like the Statue of Liberty by shining her light so others who were lost could find their way to the Lord; Sarah Jane feels like she isn’t doing enough to let her light shine, but her mother encourages her that she is a wonderful example to all of her friends; Sarah Jane’s sister, Clarissa, also says she could do better shining her light and calls herself selfish, but their mother encourages them to pray for the Lord to give them courage to let their light shine; Sarah Jane and her family meet a woman who feels bitter about God taking her husband and thinks that her “good works” will put her in good standing with the Lord, but Sarah Jane and her family explain that it’s His grace that saves us and *Spoiler* when Sarah Jane asks the lady if she’s prayed to ask Jesus into her heart and the lady shakes her head no, so Sarah Jane offers to pray with her and they pray together *End of Spoiler*; Kimberly gets the idea to invite her school friends to church or tell them what Jesus did on the cross; Mentions of God, Jesus Christ, Christians showing God’s light, being able to worship freely, & everyone being equal in God’s sight; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of those & events in the Bible (in bonus content); Mentions of being Blessed; A few mentions of churches, pastors, & Sunday school; A mention of Bible reading;
*Note: A couple mentions of being lucky.
Negative Content- A bit of eye rolling (from Sarah Jane’s sister); Sarah Jane is separated from her parents & greatly upset (*Spoiler* She finds a police officer who helps her and reunites her with her parents *End of Spoiler*); Sarah Jane is concerned that some “drifters” around the train station could be dangerous; Sarah Jane sees a beggar who says he hasn’t eaten in days and her heart feels heavy and she can’t stop thinking about the man (*Spoiler* At the end, she packs a lunch and give it to the man *End of Spoiler*); Sarah Jane sees children in New York working (and not at school), which makes her feel sad and want to bring them home with her family, but her father tells her that the children “aren’t all unhappy” as she imagines and that most have roofs over their head and food to eat, which is far more than some had before they came to New York; Sarah Jane is sad to learn about the orphans in New York (her father explains that some of them lost their parents to illness while traveling to America and others were abandoned by their parents “who could not afford to care for them”); Mentions of wars (including Sarah Jane’s teacher telling them “bloody, gruesome stories” about the Civil War), slavery (which Sarah Jane’s father says that “it will be many, many years before those who lived in bondage will truly experience freedom as it was intended by the Lord.”), & deaths; Mentions of a widow grieving the recent death of her husband; A few mentions of the 1900 Hurricane in Galveston & the many deaths from it; A couple mentions of a crime; A couple mentions of cigar smoke; A mention of a fire; A mention of jealousy; A mention of horse droppings & the smell;
*Note: After Sarah Jane’s sister complains about their traveling, Sarah Jane promises herself that she won’t be like Clarissa and complain; Sarah Jane apologizes to her parents for being “so much trouble”, how she can’t do anything right, and asks for forgiveness, but her father tells her that we all make mistakes; Clarissa admits to feeling selfish and stuck up; Patriotic songs are shared and fully written in the bonus content at the end of the book (‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’, ‘American the Beautiful’, ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, and ‘Yankee Doodle’); A couple mentions of a store (Macy’s).
Sexual Content- Sarah Jane sees her parents embrace and share a couple kisses; A few mentions of Sarah Jane’s older sister (age 15) having a crush on a classmate and flirting with him;
*Note: Sarah Jane wishes she was more like her sister who is more put-together in her manners and appearance (she thinks negatively a couple of times about her own appearance that she has “dull dark hair, boring green eyes, and dimples on her cheeks”; She thinks again later than she can’t look like her sister even if she tried her “all her life”, but even if she did, Sarah Jane wouldn’t boast about her appearance like her sister does; Sarah Jane thinks she will never be as lovely as her sister, so she doesn’t want to bother with trying); Sarah Jane’s sister comments about it being worth the pain of sleeping in rag curlers all night to be beautiful the next day; Sarah Jane’s sister comments on not eating dessert because she doesn’t want to ruin her figure (which Sarah Jane doesn’t know why someone would skip dessert).
-Kimberly Dawn, age 10
-Sarah Jane Powell
P.O.V. switches between them (Kimberly in Prologue & Epilogue only)
Set in present day (prologue & epilogue) & 1886
188 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
This one wasn’t my personal favorite of the series, but I did really enjoy how much faith content and discussions happened between Sarah Jane and her parents. She’s a very enthusiastic and kind girl with a big heart for others. I also enjoyed the traveling portion of this story because and Sarah Jane and her family having to travel by train.
As a note for parents, this one does have a few comments about boys/appearances that the prior books in the series did not have because of Sarah Jane’s older sister, Clarissa. Sarah Jane negatively thinks about her own appearance compared to her sister and then there’s a few mentions of Clarissa flirting with a boy from school and wanting to skip dessert so she doesn’t “ruin” her figure (which makes no sense to Sarah Jane).
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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