Publisher: Shadow Mountain (August 15, 2023)
Hardcover: 256 pages
ISBN: 978-1639930999
Reading age: 8 - 12 years
Grade level: 3 - 6
AMAZON
Juniper Berry knows how to handle bobcats, bears, and mountain lions, but can she survive the toughest predator of all―middle school?
Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry lives with her family deep in the wild woods. Living off the grid is pretty exciting, but her happy life in the wild ends abruptly when her younger brother gets sick, and they move to the city to be closer to the hospital. Juniper and her older sister end up living with cousins they hardly know and attending public school for the first time, which is harder to navigate than the wild woods ever were. Juniper feels like a wolf cub separated from her pack.
As the hospital bills for her brother start piling up, Juniper knows they’ll need to be paid before the family can go back to the woods, so she decides to make enough money to help out. With her cousin Alayna’s support, Juniper starts posting videos filled with her wisdom from the woods, hoping to get a following. But what if it doesn’t work? What if the bills never get paid? Not going home to the wild is Juniper’s worst nightmare. While she’s stuck in the city, she might as well make the most of it, like sticking up for Alayna, who’s being bullied by her supposed friends, for starters.
The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry is a story about perseverance when faced with difficult and unfamiliar challenge, belonging and finding your identity, compassion for others, and learning that our differences can sometimes be our strengths.
Chad Morris grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. Neither of those plans quite panned out, so he wrote and performed sketch comedy while going to college. Now he’s a teacher and a writer.
Shelly Brown loves to write books for children. In her spare time, she enjoys the theater and traveling. In addition to her five children, she has three chickens and sixty-four Pez dispensers.
REVIEW:
I feel like this story was a bunch of metaphors, and that's okay.
Juniper is an interesting character. So is her family. They live off the grid, due to societal pressures. When they go into the grid, life becomes topsy-turvy.
At times, you feel like they do not have the tools to cope with society and you learn quickly you are wrong. They may not have it all together, but their theories are beautiful and innocent.
I liked this story. I'm just not sure everyone else will. This is geared to middle grade readers. They will enjoy a magical story about a girl who lives in the woods, but they won't understand the teachings which were so lovely.
Have them read it anyway.
3.5/5
**Compensation may be earned from the link within. A copy was provided to facilitate this review. Opinions are owned by Freda's Voice.
Sounds like a very good book. I like that Juniper stands up for Alayna and the book is about about "animals, nature, and surviving middle school". I'll probably read this soon.
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