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