Sadie Rose And The Daring Escape

Sadie had fallen asleep before she’d heard Pa’s final answer. She touched York’s Bible and wished she hadn’t. She deserved to burn forever in Hell for causing Pa’s death, but Helen didn’t deserve to burn for the lie Sadie herself had made her tell. “Oh Helen, don’t let me make you suffer.”

Book: Sadie Rose and the Daring Escape (Sadie Rose Adventure, Book 1) by Hilda Stahl, Crossway Books, 1988

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 10-14

Subjects: Lies, Friendship, Family Relationships, Loss, Forgiveness, Moving

Summary: How fast can things go wrong in a new home? With Sadie Rose around, pretty much instantly. Within minutes of arriving in the new community after Sadie Rose’s mom married York and moved them across the state to the edge of the Nebraska sandhills, Sadie has found trouble. An angry man is abusing his dog and Sadie intervenes, putting herself in as much danger as the dog. Thankfully, a nice man and his son come to her rescue and take the dog from the mean man and give him to Sadie. That doesn’t calm the anger in her heart though. Sadie Rose is furious at being forced to move and furious that someone new has moved into their lives to take their dad’s place. But most of all, Sadie is being torn apart by guilt. She knows full well it is her fault that her dad died. And she remembers well what the preacher told her happens to those who sin – they burn in hell forever!

Notes: The Daring Escape is the first of the Sadie Rose Adventures. This series tells of a twelve year old girl’s first year living in the Nebraska sandhills during the pioneer days. Sadie has a knack for getting into danger. The series focuses a lot on family relationships as Sadie lives with her mother, stepdad, older sister, older brother, younger sister and younger brother. It also focuses a lot on the hopes and dreams of marriage for the young girls. The culture was for girls to marry quite young so the characters, especially Sadie’s older sister focus heavily on trying to find a good husband. There is also a strong thread of forgiveness and the importance of telling the truth running through the series.

In this first book Sadie has to deal with the guilt she feels over causing her dad’s death as he died in a blizzard while looking for her. She gets told of God’s willingness to forgive those who have put their trust in Him for salvation. She begins the process of opening up to and loving her new stepfather and the rest of her family. The thread of the importance of telling the truth is also strong as Sadie not only lies, but forces a younger sister to lie for her as well and wrestles with the guilt of it on top of her other guilt.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.