About this book:
“Once
Upon a Summer
Sure, it’s unusual to have an
eighteen-year-old mother when you’re twelve. But when you’re an orphan and she’s
your aunt—and the only mother you’ve ever know—well, it works out just fine.
That’s why I got so riled up
when I heard Grandpa and Uncle Charlie talkin’ about findin’ a fella for Aunt
Lou.
You see, somethin’ had to be
done. I couldn’t just sit back and watch our family get broken up. But with Grandpa
and Uncle Charlie workin’ so hard to marry off Aunt Lou, I really had my job
cut out for me. Then that preacher came along, and things got really
complicated…”
Series: Book #1 in the “Seasons of the Heart” series.
Spiritual Content- A Scripture is quoted; Prayers, wanting to pray, Blessings
over food, & Thanking God; Church going & sermons (Josh tunes out a few
of them, but the new preacher gets his attention); Being witnessed to *Spoiler*
At the end, Josh prays for forgiveness and feels peace *End of Spoiler*; Talks
about God, loving Him, peace, & being hurt; ‘H’s are capitalized when
referring to God; Josh is mad at God for the unfairness that has happened, so
he tries ignoring God (he’s afraid of hating Him, so he’s decided that he just
won’t love Him and wants Him to keep His hands off of his family); Josh doesn’t
understand why a young man would want to be a preacher; Many mentions of churches,
church going, services, hymns, pastors, & sermons; Mentions of God; Mentions
of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & thanking God; Mentions of Bibles,
Bible reading, & family worship time (which Josh finds it to be sort of
boring); Mentions of a man not having time for God & not sure if they
believe there is a God; A couple mentions of those & events in the Bible; A
couple mentions of being blessed; A couple mentions of sins; A couple mentions
of some of the boys at church question why they need church (Josh thinks about
it as well); A mention of doing the Lord’s Prayer at school; A mention of tithes;
*Note: A mention of a team of
horses not being scared even by the devil himself.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘sissy’, two ‘shucks’s, and nine
forms of ‘dumb’; Hearing about a pet’s death (border-line barely-above-not-detailed
// semi-detailed); Killing a fish after catching it (barely-above-not-detailed);
Mentions of Josh’s parents who died in an accident when he was little; Mentions
of a fire, smoke, & people losing their property (houses, animals, etc.); Mentions
of gambling & playing for money; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of hatred; A few
mentions of lies; A couple mentions of a pig sounding like it’s being killed (barely-above-not-detailed);
A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of tobacco;
*Note: A few mentions of a
pregnant mother getting sick & losing the baby.
Sexual Content- Seeing a guy kiss
a girl (she’s upset at the unwanted kiss and gets mad at him); Josh has a
slight crush on his teacher (it’s not said, but he notices how pretty she is
and blushes); Mentions of flirts & flirting; Mentions of boys trying to get
Lou’s attention or staring at her (including one looking at her with a “haunted,
hungry look”); Mentions of blushes; Mentions of boys playing the “ogle-the-girls”
game at church (rating each girl as she appears based on her appearance): A couple
mentions of crushes; A mention of love-struck boys;
*Note: A mention of Josh feeling like a traitor to his sex because he
likes school.
-Joshua “Josh” Jones, age 12
1st
person P.O.V. of Josh
Historical setting (early 1900s)
250 pages
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Pre
Teens- 
New
Teens- 
Early
High School Teens- 
Older
High School Teens- 
My
personal Rating-
{Warning
for sensitive animal/dog lovers – death of a pet}
This was overall enjoyable! I think
I would classify every Janette Oke book I’ve read (at least, the older ones,
that is) as wholesome and realistic for the historical setting, but still clean
and faith filled. Which I really like seeing. This one took me a bit to get into—I
think that was because of the writing style using a lot of spoken Western slang/words
(jest instead of just, etc.)—but I did like all the characters and Josh’s point
of view, it was different, but entertaining. I enjoyed all the planning from
Josh trying to keep men away from his Aunt Lou, it was humorous, but not mean
or deceitful.
I may continue the rest of the series, but I think you could honestly read this one as a stand-alone unless you were curious about seeing the characters again.
It’s a slight spoiler, but there is a death of an animal that was hard to read about. That’s why I’m giving it a 3.5 rating, personally.
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.
author.
