Maureen The Detective

“Should we call the police and tell them what happened? Maureen asked.

“I don’t know that it would do any good,” Mrs. Hoag said. “When I reported the artwork stolen and replaced by other art, they looked at me very oddly. They said thieves don’t replace things they’ve taken. Now I have a yard full of poisoned birds. What’s happening, Maureen?” she asked in a sorrowful voice. “This is making me crazy.”

Book: Maureen the Detective: The Age of Immigration (Sisters in Time Book 17) by Callie Smith Grant, Barbour Publishers, 2005

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 9-15

Subjects: Crime, Adoption, Immigration, Loss of Loved Ones

Summary: She’s crazy! That’s the rumor around town anyway. When Maureen and her cousin find a pursue with Mrs. Hoag’s name in it and return it to her, they see where the rumors came from. The old lady does seem a bit crazy! When they are hired to work for her over the summer though, they start to discover that some of the outrageous things they claim are actually true. She truly does know the president. And she truly IS being robbed from! After the yard is filled with dead birds one day, Maureen suspects someone is intentionally trying to make Mrs. Hoag crazy. But who? And why? It’s time for Maureen and her cousin to become detectives!

Notes: Janie’s Freedom is the nineteenth in the Sisters-In-Time series. This series features young girls living at various key points in American history, particularly around the wars. It always places the girls right at the edge of the teen years, coming of age.  The concept of the series it to not only show a glimpse of history, but to help young girls feel that the people back then weren’t that different than the people today.

Maureen The Detective is set in 1903, during the time of high immigration from Ireland. Maureen’s parents have both died and she was adopted by the woman her mom worked for. She’s gone from being a poor immigrant to a relatively well-off citizen. She wrestles a bit with her identity due to that. There is also a struggle a lot of issues with loss as not only is she mourning her loss, but Mrs. Hoag is mourning the loss of her husband and Maureen’s uncle dies leaving her cousin mourning his loss. One of the spiritual emphasis points comes when Mrs. Hoag talks with Maureen about how she let her grief at losing her husband stop her from living. She tells Maureen that you can “get on with the life that God has given you, or you can fight change and be unhappy”. Mostly though, it’s simply a mystery/adventure story with characters that live a moral/religious life.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Job 2:10 - He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Janie’s Freedom

Janie wondered what she should do now. Did she dare take this white girl back to her sleeping friends, especially when one of them was clearly sick? Then it occurred to Janie that maybe this Maydean was the answer to the praying she’d been doing all night. The redhead seemed an unlikely answer to prayer, so Janie prayed one more thing silently: Lord?

Book: Janie's Freedom: African Americans in the Aftermath of Civil War (Sisters in Time Book 14) by Callie Smith Grant, Barbour Publishers, 2006

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 9-15

Subjects: Salvation, slavery, friendship, family relationships growing up/coming of age

Summary: The day the white men come and take her mistress away is the day her life undergoes a truly radical change. Her freedom was declared earlier, but nothing changed. Now though, the mistress is gone, the former slaves are abandoned and the young ones are encouraged by the older ones to leave the plantation and seek out a new life in Chicago. So the Rudyhill Five set off on the long journey across the country in search of a place they can truly be free and actually make a living for themselves. It’s a dangerous journey and before long, winter sets in and the sickness comes. The only help offered comes from a source they dare not trust – but do they have a choice?

Notes: Janie’s Freedom is the fourteenth in the Sisters-In-Time series. This series features young girls living at various key points in American history, particularly around the wars. It always places the girls right at the edge of the teen years, coming of age.  The concept of the series it to not only show a glimpse of history, but to help young girls feel that the people back then weren’t that different than the people today.

Janie’s Freedom is set in 1867, at the end of the Civil War. Janie has been a slave all of her life, her parents being sold to various other plantations and most recently raised by an older slave woman. It’s a story of slaves trying to figure out how to live once their owners turn them loose. The spiritual elements are plentiful in this story. Janie has grown up in a culture where worshiping God is common. She hasn’t always understood what everything means but throughout the story as she gets more and more instruction in God’s Word and learns how to read it for herself, her understanding and personal faith grows. She was called Janie-Bird by the woman who cared for her who encouraged her to make a joyful noise to the Lord. As Janie faces trails she has to learn to keep singing her praise to God.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Psalm 100:1-2 – Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Laura’s Victory

On the playground, when the teacher had walked back into the school, Keith sidled up to Laura. “Isn’t your big hotel job in that place where the Japs lived?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he said in a loud voice so other kids could hear, “She’s running a Jap hotel!”

Laura was momentarily dumbstruck. Sure, the Wakamutus were of Japanese ancestry, but they weren’t the Japanese the United States was fighting.

“Those tenants came here before the war,” she said. “They’re on the American side.”

“Sure they are,” Keith said. “That’s why the government locked them up.”

Laura had no reply to that.

Book: Laura's Victory: End of the Second World War (1945) (Sisters in Time #24) by Veda Boyd Jones, Barbour Publishing, 2006

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 9-15

Subjects: Fear, Prejudice, WWII

Summary: It’s risky enough living in a hotel that once housed some Japanese, but now the Japanese have come back and are actually living in the same apartment as them! In fact, Laura is expected to befriend the girl her age and show her around school. Laura’s family assures her that these people are not their enemies, but rather their friends. It’s hard to believe that when the kids at school say otherwise. In fact, Yvonne says she’s a traitor for befriending someone of the race that killed her brother! Mikoyo sees it differently. She says Laura is blind for only seeing the outside of a person and not looking at the inside. In the midst of trying to be the best class president she can be by getting people to buy lots of war stamps, and fearing for her brother and sister’s boyfriend who are still fighting the war, she has to figure out what she believes about the Japanese-Americans and how to evaluate a person.

Notes: Laura’s Victory is the twenty-fourth in the Sisters-In-Time series. This series features young girls living at various key points in American history, particularly around the wars. It always places the girls right at the edge of the teen years, coming of age.  The concept of the series it to not only show a glimpse of history, but to help young girls feel that the people back then weren’t that different than the people today.

Laura’s Victory takes place in 1945 focusing on the ending of World War II and the view of the Japanese living in America at the time, as well as the fear of Polio. In this book Laura deals with the anti-Japanese sentiment running rampart around the country. She believes her classmates and friends who say she has to hate all of Japanese ancestry because people like her best friend’s brother have been killed by Japanese soldiers. The common thought is that if the government locked them all up, then they must truly be dangerous, a threat to the Americans. Laura’s parents and other adults in her life have to help her figure out how to have the right perspective. They explain that these Japanese are truly Americans and the girl living with them has a father fighting for America – against the Japanese! She also deals with the fear of Polio when her brother gets the dreaded disease.

The spiritual content comes when Laura struggles with fear and one of the adults in her life helps her reason through “the worst that could happen” and helps her see that if her loved ones die in the war, they will go to Heaven where she will see them again someday. If they are tortured, Laura should simply pray that God will be with them and help them. The adult encourages Laura to pray when she feels afraid and give her fear to God and “let Him deal with it”. There are also prayers when in trouble and thanks to God when good things happen.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 3.5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

John 14:1-3 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Back Before Dark

Hiro raised her eyebrows. “Then why did you agree to breaking in?”

How could he explain that to her? “Because Coop is my friend.”

“And he isn’t my friend?” Hiro’s eyes flashed. “A real friend helps keep his friend from walking into trouble.”

“Sometimes.” Lunk nodded. “Or is willing to walk through the trouble with his friend, if he has to.”

Hiro looked at him like she was processing that. “But he doesn’t have to do this. Gordy is –“

“Gone?” Lunk finished the sentence.

Hiro nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

“You and I know that, but Coop doesn’t.”

She swiped at her tears like she had no intention of caving to grief. “He doesn’t want to see it. He won’t listen.”

“And who could blame him?” Lunk jammed his hands in his pockets. And checking Stein’s was all part of it.

“He’s on the edge,” Hiro said. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

“It will stop,” Lunk said lowering his voice. “When he has some answers about Gordy or accepts the fact that he’s probably dead.”

Hiro nodded like she already knew that. “But now do we keep him from getting killed in the meantime?”

Book: Back Before Dark: Sometimes rescuing a friend from darkness ... means going in after them (A Code of Silence Novel) by Tim Shoemaker, Zondervan Publishers, 2013

Genre: Mystery/Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 14-18

Subjects: Fear, Friendship, Guilt, Love

Summary: It’s exactly what they’ve always been taught NOT to do – talk to strangers. But the why is also what they’ve always been taught to do – show kindness to those in need. Gordy approached the van to tell the driver he’d forgotten his backpack on top of his car and was going to lose it. But as he gets close, all of a sudden, Hiro, Coop and Lunk get a weird feeling and start yelling for him to come back. Gordy ignores them and they frantically try to reach him, but before they can, the driver opens the door with a taser, stuns Gordy and drags him into the van and speeds away. Now day after day goes by and no one can find Gordy. Statiscally speaking, the chances of finding a kidnapped victim decrease greatly each day. Many give up hope and a memorial service is planned. Coop can’t give up hope though. He just knows his cousin is still alive and he won’t stop searching till he finds him. But Coop’s determination is terrifying Hiro. Coop has become reckless – breaking the law, sneaking around, lying, and rushing into danger. If Gordy isn’t found soon, there will be two victims.

Notes: Sequel to Code of Silence, Back Before Dark continues the story of Cooper and his friends. In this second book in the series, Coop faces another crime, and in a way, this one is even more terrifying than the first. He isn’t the one in danger, it’s his cousin, his best friend. He feels weighted down by guilt for not recognizing the danger and stopping Gordy from approaching the van. He actually encouraged Gordy to do it. The big theme running through the story though is what it means to be a good friend. When it comes down to it, there is only one thing Coop won’t do for a friend and that’s give up on them. Hiro and Lunk debate all throughout the story what it looks like for them to be a good friend to Coop and how far Coop should go for Gordy.

The spiritual element is seen through Hiro and Lunk’s observation of her. Coop doesn’t come across very spiritual or unchristian – he merely lives the morals. Hiro is always praying and talking about praying and finding strength through prayer. Lunk believes that either God doesn’t exist or doesn’t care. But Hiro’s example challenges his beliefs, especially at the end of the book.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

John 15:12-13 – My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Take A Bow

Lucy circled the ride, scanning all around her, anywhere that a person might wait for someone. No Serena. Maybe she’d gone to the bathroom! But she didn’t come back. Lucy slumped onto one of the benches and squeezed her little Woodstock as she realized what had happened. Serena had deserted her.

Book:Take a Bow (Hidden Diary)by Sandra Byrd, Bethany House Publishers, 2001

(paperback) (e-book of #3-4)  (paperback of #1-4)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience:  Girls 11-14

Subjects: Friendship, Parent relationships, Prayer, Faith, Fear

Summary: Do what you’re afraid of. That’s the focus of the diary adventure this week. The first try is at the amusement park. Serena is afraid ot the scary rides and Lucy tries to get her to do them anyway. The only thing that accomplishes is nearly destroying their friendship! Attempt number two doesn’t seem to be going much better. Lucy is trying to convince Serena to enter her painting in the art contest. Serena is trying to convince Lucy to play keyboard in her brother’s band for the music contest. Serena once had a teacher tell her that her art was terrible. Lucy once completely froze, forgetting all she had learned while trying to perform on state. Both girls are completely terrified, having promised themselves they would never do this again, and yet they have to in order to fulfill the diary adventure!

Notes: Take A Bow is the fourth in the Hidden Diary series. The series tells of two twelve year old girls on an island for the summer. One is a local, the other has parents doing projects for their jobs while on the island. When the girls find a hidden diary they pledge to read a section a week and do the same kind of adventure the girls from long ago wrote about.

This fourth book is about stretching oneself. Having facing rejection before, neither girl wanted to try sharing her gifts and talents ever again. But at pressure from each other they timidly step out and give it a chance. The spiritual emphasis in this one has both girls getting into their Bibles. Lucy has been praying and attending church, becoming just a little bit more comfortable with God again. But she’s refused to even unwrap the packaging on the Bible her parents gave her. Serena finds her answer in 2 Timothy 1:7 and that gives Lucy the motivation to open her Bible. She finds her answer in Galatians 6:10. Later, when Lucy gets even more nervous and is about to give up, her Dad encourages her to look up 1 Peter 4:11 and that gives her the courage to continue on with it. There is also a discussion about the value of the Bible – is it too outdated to be of help to Lucy? Her mom compares it to the diary – how the two girls in the diary don’t seem any different than she and Serena. Then after both girls find verses that help them know what to do, it reinforces that the Bible is living and active, not outdated and useless.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer:  J:-)mi

 Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Just Between Friends

Lucy had made up her mind. Surely the dog couldn’t do any damage to the… laundry room! And anyway, Lucy told herself, the laundry room isn’t really the house. The dog will be gone in less than an hour. What are my choices – let the dog get run over? And I won’t tell Mom and Dad. The can’t get in trouble with the university if they don’t know. I mean, I’d put the dog in the backyard if it were fenced all the way around. But it’s my job to keep it safe till Mrs. Marshall tells us what to do. Lucy felt wobbly from her belly button to her knees as she opened the door to the laundry room instead of going to the front door.

Book: Just Between Friends (Hidden Diary) by Sandra Byrd, Bethany House Publishers, 2001

(paperback)  (E-book of #3 and 4) (paperbacks of #1-4)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience:  Girls 11-14

Subjects: Friendship, Parent relationships, Prayer, Faith

Summary: Helping the hurting isn’t as easy as it seems! When Lucy and Serena read about how the original diary friends got involved in helping to feed the poor, they determine to do something to help the hurting too. Except for the project they find isn’t a person – it’s a dog. And neither one can get permission from their parents to keep the dog at their house. So they need to find a good home for the dog. But just as soon as one thing gets solved, another problem comes up. It turns up this dog is pregnant and they need to find a home for a whole litter of dogs!

Notes: Just Between Friends is the third in the Hidden Diary series. The series tells of two twelve year old girls on an island for the summer. One is a local, the other has parents doing projects for their jobs while on the island. When the girls find a hidden diary they pledge to read a section a week and do the same kind of adventure the girls from long ago wrote about.

In this third book the girls have to demonstrate some serious responsibility as they undertake a project to raise a bunch of money for vet bills and dog food for the littler of puppies. At one point they even prepare for dealing with a thief, just like the original diary friends did! A big theme in this book is Lucy’s trust in her parents. Due to their separation the previous year, she does not trust them much to be there for her when she needs help. So she tries to do everything on her own and finds not only that she still needs their help, but that she wants their help and that they desire to help!

The spiritual emphasis in this book continues Lucy’s questions of whether or not she truly belongs to God. She is reluctant to seek help from not just her parents, but God as well. She finds the verse in Ephesians 2:19 saying she is a member of God’s family and gives prayer another chance. She’s unsure of what she should say, but tries it out and sees God answering her requests in ways she did not imagine.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer:  J:-)mi

Ephesians 2:19 - Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household

Make A Wish

After she stopped sniffling, Lucy realized she’d have to call Serena and tell her it was very likely no one was coming to their party at all. So much for their exciting summer. And that they’d have to write total and complete failure as the first entry in their own summer diary. Maybe with such a terrible beginning Serena wouldn’t think that their summer diary adventures looked fun at all. Or worth doing together anymore.

Book: Make a Wish (Hidden Diary) by Sandra Byrd, Bethany House Publishers, 2001

 (Paperback)    (E-book of Books #1 & 2)  (Paper back of books #1-4)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience:  Girls 11-14

Subjects: Friendship, Parent relationships, Prayer, Faith

Summary: A birthday party? Is Serena nuts? Lucy doesn’t know the other girls on the island very well at all and what she does know of them is that they are all friends with Julie – who has made it quite clear that you are risking your place in her circle of friends if you try to hang out with Lucy. If that wasn’t bad enough, it turns out that another birthday party is scheduled for the same day! Lucy just knows no one is going to come. She believes her suspicions confirmed when a note shows up at her door telling her to call off the party!

Notes: Make A Wish is the second in the Hidden Diary series. The series tells of two twelve year old girls on an island for the summer. One is a local, the other has parents doing projects for their jobs while on the island. When the girls find a hidden diary they pledge to read a section a week and do the same kind of adventure the girls from long ago wrote about.

In this second book the girls begin their first adventure. The original friends wrote about a party in their diary so Serena decides they should have a birthday party for Lucy. This causes a focus on what it means to be friends with someone and how to make friends. It also continues to develop the relationship between Lucy and her parents as, with their newly rediscovered faith, they start trying to be more involved in Lucy’s life – something lacking during the time of their separation.

The spiritual emphasis in this book shows Lucy reaching out just a little bit more into the Christianity that she left a few years ago. She visits a church and questions whether or not she belongs there. A teenage girl assures Lucy that she is welcome and that if she is “looking” then the church is exactly where she belongs. Lucy realizes she belongs to Jesus, even though she walked away years ago.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer:  J:-)mi

James 4:8 - Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Cross My Heart

Lucy’s hopes started to drop like pebbles tossed overboard that slowly settle into the sand. “And, uh, we can find the house.” Lucy didn’t feel so confident now. How? Where? We don’t eve know anyone here. Remember? That’s why you want to stay with Grammy this summer. She didn’t know anyone and nothing good was going to happen. Lucy let the paper drift onto the table by her dad’s papers.

Book: Cross My Heart (Hidden Diary) by Sandra Byrd, Bethany House Publishers, 2001

(Links are for e-book, paperback collections of books 1-4, and paperback of #1)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience:  Girls 11-14

Subjects: Friendship, Parent relationships, Prayer, Faith

Summary: Yet another summer stuck in some random remote place where she knows no one. Lucy is pretty much fed up with her parents’ summer work trips. Between her dad’s scientist duties and her mom’s painting, no one has time for Lucy. All she wants is to go back and stay with her Grammy and spend the entire summer with her cousin – a kid her age for once! That starts to slowly change when she finds the hidden letter though. One thing leads to another, to another and soon she and an ancestor of the original writers of the letter are reading an old diary written by two best friends. It describes their summer adventures. Lucy would like to read through it with Serena, but she’s all too aware of her “new girl” status. In fact, when she starts trying to make friends with the group of girls her age, one makes it quite clear that Lucy is NOT welcome! Lucy just doesn’t know what to do anymore!

Notes: Cross My Heart is the first in the Hidden Diary series. The series tells of two twelve year old girls on an island for the summer. One is a local, the other has parents doing projects for their jobs while on the island. When the girls find a hidden diary they pledge to read a section a week and do the same kind of adventure the girls from long ago wrote about.

In this first book, the focus is on setting up the friendship and the details for how to read the diary and how to respond to what they read.

The spiritual emphasis in this book has to do with Lucy’s parents coming back to the Lord. Their whole family was saved at a family camp years ago but drifted away from it. Now her parents have reaffirmed their decision and are trying to not only grow themselves, but encourage Lucy to as well. Lucy is reluctant to start in this first book. But when she finally does pray, she is reminded that God is always there, hearing and listening to prayers.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/4

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Deuteronomy 31:8 - The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."