About this book:
“Maggie Hartley has a plan. A dangerous one.
When her little sister Grace is moved to a new foster family—without warning, and without her—nine-year-old Maggie does the only thing she can think to do: she runs. Out a window. Through the dark. Alone.
Days later, hungry and out of options, Maggie slips into a barn on the edge of a small town called Juniper Creek and hides in the hayloft. She doesn't expect to be found by Jasper Williams. And she definitely doesn't expect his family to want to help.
But the Williamses believe in doing right by people—even strangers, even complicated ones. For Maggie, "right" means only one thing: finding Grace.”
Series: Book #1 in the“Juniper Creek” series.
Spiritual Content- ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; The group home is an old church that has been converted to house many orphaned girls; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of the sanctuary, stained glass windows, & pews;
*Note: A few mentions of luck & being lucky.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: Some eye rolling; Maggie lies a couple of times (to be able to get a bus ticket, which she feels bad about doing); Grief (including Maggie for parents); After Maggie and her sister (Grace) are taken to a group home, Grace is placed with a family without Maggie’s knowledge and desperately misses her; Because of this, Maggie plans to run away from the group home to find her sister (which does happen and involves Maggie sneaking out, getting on a bus, avoiding adults, and having little to eat; *Spoilers* When reunited with her sister, Maggie says all of the prior things were worth it for the moment of hugging her sister *End of Spoilers*); Maggie knows she shouldn’t leave the group home, but is determined to find her sister because she believes they need to be together; Because of not being told more about her sister, Maggie feels like she can’t trust the adults around her & shouts at a lady at the group home for keeping things from her (*Spoilers* The woman tried to tell Maggie about the couple wanting to adopt her and her sister, but Maggie wouldn’t listen and didn’t go to the meetings; The couple was only approved for one child at a time, but plan to adopt Maggie as well when approved to do so; At the end, the woman explains more of the details to Maggie and says she’ll try to get things pushed forward to reunite the sisters in their new home, but Maggie has to return to the group home until then *End of Spoilers*) After she’s been hiding in his family’s barn, Jasper finds Maggie and hears her story (she asks him not to tell his parents about her, *Spoilers* and while he agrees to wait until morning to tell them, he quickly realizes that was wrong and should have told his parents right away; He feels guilt when the truth is found out and his parents tell him he should have come to them; Jasper’s mom tells Maggie that what she did was very brave, but was not safe; When Maggie overhears Jasper’s parents talk about calling the police, she runaway again to where her sister exactly is; Jasper covers for Maggie to have time for her to get to her sister & he feels guilty again *End of Spoilers*); Mentions of missing and runaway children; Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of the deaths of Maggie’s parents (no details besides that an “accident” happened) & grief; A few mentions of “borrowing” something (like apples on the ground, which Maggie tells herself isn’t stealing); A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of a burglar & a criminal; A couple mentions of jails; A couple mentions of jealousy;
*Note: Maggie says she likes playing video games like Minecraft on her tablet; A few mentions of brand names & games (iPad, Pop-Tarts, Cheerios, Barbie, Minecraft); A mention of a book (‘Charlotte’s Web’).
Sexual Content- N/A.
- Maggie Hartley, age 9
P.O.V. switches Maggie, Jasper, & a couple others
168 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
While I don’t love the AI cover for this book, I did find the story inside to be special! I wished things had been handled differently for Maggie and her sister, but the ending gives me hope for the rest of the series for the girls’ happiness. This book was set in the fall and mostly set around an apple orchard, so it was good timing to read it now! I would give a heads up for adoptees and/or those in foster care, though, as this book may stir up difficult feelings with Maggie and her sister being separated. It’s not fully resolved by the end of the story, but it looks hopeful for the girls being reunited permanently later in 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.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment