Mom, this was SUCH a good book. I can’t wait to read the next one, The Ruby Moon!
So, I would say, overall, The Glass Castle by Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins was a hit!
The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle is a hardbound, 251 page, juvenile fiction is written for the 10-14 year old in mind. The layout and ease of reading was good. Text was a good size, not crowded, and each of the 41 chapters was about 4-7 pages in length (so, “just one more chapter” was easy to manage at bedtime). This is the first book in the new “13” teen, mystery book series.
My daughter read it in 2 days. She probably would have read it through the first day if I let her. The one more chapter night was at about the half-way point and then next day she completed it. I took a little longer to read it because, well, I don’t get to more than 1 or 2 chapters at a time because everyone else needs something. You know how reading is for the mom’s.
Both the authors are experienced authors and Trisha White Priebe is a wife and mother. She definitely knows how to write a fun adventure story for this age group.
Summary
The story is about a spunky 13 year old girl named Avery who is kidnapped, along with her 3-year old brother, on her 13th birthday. She is taken to a castle and put to work along with other 13 year old orphans who have been kidnapped and placed in the castle. She is separated from her brother, though, which is a mystery to where he is and why they were separated. The novel is set in Medieval times.
As the story unfolds, Avery learns that the king is ill and needs to find an heir to his throne. His first wife and child died 13 years before. Angelina, sister to his first wife of the king, wants to be queen and provide her own heir; however, she thinks that the real heir is still alive. This is why all the 13 years old in the kingdom are brought to the castle, so she can rid the kingdom of the possible heir to the throne.
Avery wants to find out the truth and get back to her father. She wants to find her brother. This tenacity is different than the other kids that have been brought to the castle and lead to mystery and adventure. There is adventure and I won’t ruin the book by telling you the whys and what happens. Read it for yourself, it really is a good book.
What My Daughter Had to Say
This book is about a girl named Avery, you know, my name, who was kidnapped along with her little brother, like I have a little brother, and kept in a castle. Avery becomes friends with Kate and a boy named Tuck. Avery tries to escape the castle.
I liked the book. Avery is kind and helps the kids who have been kidnapped. She helps out around the castle. She helps the kids get work done. I don’t really get why the others kids aren’t trying to escape but I know why Avery is and I would do the same thing as Avery and try to help the other kids and find my brother and help him.
I would recommend this book to someone that wants to read a fun, adventure book. – Avarie, age 11
What I Thought
Read the first chapter of The Glass Castle here. And see for yourself how exciting and captivating even the first chapter of this novel is. It really is a page-turner and makes you want to keep going. The story definitely ends letting you know there is another story on its way. The sequel, The Ruby Moon, is said to be released Fall 2016. My daughter obviously has already asked to get it. She didn’t mind that it was open-ended but some people do. There is a little pre-teen romantic interest going on between Avery and Tuck. There wasn’t anything inappropriate, I don’t think. It was fine. There were some other romantic implications which I thought were unnecessary to the plot but they didn’t seem to detract from the plot or make us lose interest.
During the story Avery attends a chapel led by one of the fellow 13 year old captives. There are references to God and brings in the Christian side of the book. Avery find comfort in the Bible she finds and this helps her and her fellow captives during difficult times. There is no magic or fantasy or violence in this story. Only the touch of young romantic feelings. Even though the story is about a girl and there is an innocent, romantic interest, I think the adventure and plot would be captivating to boys and girls reading the book
The way the other children in the castle speak to one another is a little “sassy” and not the way we teach our children to talk but it isn’t severe and I didn’t see any demonstration of this come out of reading the book. It wasn’t bad enough for me to not allow her to read it. We just talked about how that is not how we talk to friends, each other, or anyone. However, other than a couple of little things, that I noticed but i’m sure many would think i’m over-analyzing and my daughter likely didn’t pay a bit of attend to, The Glass Castle was a good read and I would certainly recommend it to other children 10-14 that would like an interesting, adventure novel.
Be sure to check out what the rest of the TOS Review Crew has to say about The Glass Castle from Shiloh Run Press by clicking the button below. And visit them on Facebook and Twitter.
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