I’ve been looking at this one in my review pile for several months. The cover always had me anxious to follow 11-year-old Juniper’s journey, wherever she was going. The wait was well worth it!

Juniper, her two siblings, and parents live in the wilderness. They are so off the grid that Juniper has never known anything else. No cars, no internet, no regular school. The family eats and lives off the land. Juniper loves this existence, especially with stories Mom has told her about how bad it would be living in a society full of hate and pressures.

When younger brother, Hawk, is stricken with a serious illness, the family has no other choice. They have to head back to civilization where doctors can hopefully heal Hawk.

Juniper and older sister, Skylark, end up living with cousins they never knew existed. At every turn there is something new to experience from appliances, elevators, and eventually public school. The latter being the most difficult adjustment.

Juniper is overwhelmed by so many kids and the talk that goes on about the new weird girl from the forest. She can’t follow the rules since she doesn’t understand them in the first place. Living with nature was so much easier than life in middle school. All Juniper cares about is trying to do the right thing so that Hawk will get better and they can go home. Cousin Alayna isn’t much help and wants no connection with her embarrassing cousin.

The 52 chapters flow smoothly thanks to the heartfelt narration by Juniper. It’s an appealing journey for sure and one that will have you thinking about relationships and how others in our world don’t always do a good job of accepting differences.

Perfect for girls and boys, THE WILD JOURNEY OF JUNIPER BERRY will be one you won’t soon forget.

***************************************

FIVE MORE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: THE WILD JOURNEY OF JUNIPER BERRY

1. Juniper’s determination and feistiness won me over. She’s just one of the heroes that emerges during this engaging plot.
2. Connections can happen when your heart is open to them. This was vividly portrayed through the eventual kindness of classmates and an elderly neighbor lady.
3. Middle school stories almost always include a bully, and Sophie wins that honor by being Juniper’s unkindly nemesis, but one Juniper will not back down to and instead confronts the behavior.
4. Humor is also a part of the story. The sisters confrontation with a toilet for the first time had me giggling throughout.
5. Themes of staying true to yourself, the importance of family, and seeing others in a positive way are great discussion topics. There are also truly good people in this world.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Shelly Brown was born in Portland Oregon but spent most of her growing up years in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a child you could usually find her wearing a swimsuit and bouncing between the pool, the beach, and her family’s ski boat.

She has always loved children and books so it made sense when she started writing books for children. In her spare time she helps her husband, author Chad Morris, write MORE children’s books. In her extra-extra spare time she loves the theater, history, kdramas, and traveling. She is also one of the worst tap dancers you will ever meet. But she does it anyway.

She has no regrets, one husband, three chickens, five children, and sixty-four Pez dispensers.

+++++++

Chad Morris coauthored The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry, Virtually Me, Mustaches for Maddie, Squint, and Willa and the Whale, with his wife, Shelly Brown. He is also the author of the Cragbridge Hall series (The Inventor’s Secret, The Avatar Battle, and The Impossible Race). He has won the Utah Book Award, the Buckeye Award, and the Nebraska Book Award, and the Silver Foreword INDIES award for Juvenile fiction. Chad also wrote one of the short stories in True Heroes: A Treasury of Modern-day Fairy Tales Written by Best-selling Authors. His story was based on JP Gibson, an amazing boy who faced cancer with courage, heart, and a basketball dream.

Chad grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. (Inspired by Animal from The Muppets, he has been banging on drums since he was eight years old.) Neither of those plans quite panned out. After high school, he left the Rocky Mountains to live in Brazil for a few years then returned home to write and perform sketch comedy while going to college. He graduated from BYU with a couple of degrees and became a teacher and a curriculum writer.

*****************************************

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME BELOW!

BE SURE TO VISIT OTHER BLOGGERS ON TODAY’S MARVELOUS MIDDLE GRADE MONDAY