a knock on the door in the middle of the night turns Kelly Nelson's world upside down, she not only loses her father, she loses the details of her own life story.
Alone and afraid, Kelly rows to the mainland to seek help, leaving behind the lighthouse property that she and her father occupy and maintain.
Securing assistance, she returns home, only to find that her family's enemies are close behind,
Enjoy this tale of courage and bravery as the threads of Kelly's family history are literally resewn, This series is delightful! I enjoyed this second book as much as the first one, The characters are likeable and the mysterious circumstances kept me reading, I like the glimpse into history and a different time, geared towards young readers, This is well written, solid historical story that will bring the late's to life for middle school age readers.
I received this book through Just read tours, This is my honest review and is in no way influenced by receiving a complimentary copy,
When Kellys papa finally tells her about her mother on her fourteenth birthday, the answer isnt at all what the girl is expecting.
On the eve of an epic adventure, Kelly discovers truths that are hard for her to comprehend, Unbeknownst to her, even more truth is about to be uncovered,
Evil men and winter storms keep Kelly hopping while her papa is missing and its up to her to mind the lighthouse, guiding boats away from danger.
Even when danger has landed on her doorstep,
Bertha Schwartz gives her young heroine plenty of challenges that keep the reader engaged in the story while impressing on them the importance of family of all types.
Whether it be a biological family, one formed through heartties, or a community that rallies around during difficult times, family is an important part of what shapes us into who we are and who we will become.
Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley, I am not required to write positive reviews, The opinions I have expressed are my own, I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade CommissionsCFR, Part, I enjoyed this book. It is geared towards children so it was a straightforward and clean book, Betha Schwartz did not talk about or show the harsher sides of slavery, Instead it was a story of trusting God and of having hope and faith in the midst of hardship
i liked how Daisy prayed about what to do.
I think there a lot of good lessons in this story about trusting God in every situation that the reader can learn from.
I recommend this book to family and friends,
I received this book from the publisher to read and give my honest opinion, I really enjoy Historical Fiction and think that having a Historical Fiction series for Middle School kids makes a wonderful Series.
Kelly's Search for Family is Bookin The Searchers Series, I have only read Book, but it seems like a GREAT standalone book,
A couple things that piqued my interest in Bookwas that Kelly is searching for her Mama, She has been living with her Papa in a Lighthouse and she LOVES her Papa, but wants to know about her Mama.
I think searching for a parent and wanting to know someone whom who may have never met or don't remember, is a wonderful thing.
The time period for this book is, but in today's day and time many kids want to know more about one parent or another.
The topic of this book is very relational to many School aged kids of today, I also really like going back in time for reading!
I think the relationship between Kelly and her Papa is amazing.
The LOVE between theof them shows throughout the book, Papa promises to tell Kelly more about her Mama on herth Bday, but is kidnapped before he can tell her.
Kelly feels all alone, until a family friend, Granny, comes to stay with her, Together, Kelly and Granny uncover secrets and mystery and letters from her Mama, Kelly still longs for Papa to come back, Papa eventually does return and more family secrets are revealed!
Kelly's Search for Family is a wonderful book that is mixed with History, Mystery and Family life.
I must say it did take me a few readings of Chapterbefore I could move forward, at first I wasn't grasping the storyline and I always like to understand the storyline before moving on.
All in all, I think Kelly's Search for Family is a great book and I think a GREAT series for Middle School students.
I do think Adults would enjoy the book and series also!
It'sand Kelly lives alone with her Papa, a lighthousekeeper in Massachusetts.
She longs to know more about her Mama, and Papa has finally promised to tell her the truth on her fourteenth birthday.
Before Kelly can learn much though, dangerous men the notorious Blackburn Brothers arrive unannounced and take Papa away, Kelly is left alone and responsible for the lighthouse,
Granny, a former slave and family friend, learns of Kelly's plight and decides to help find the answers to her questions.
Mysterious letters, snow storms, and violence threaten Kelly's safe haven as new friends help unearth old secrets in Kelly's lighthouse home.
How can she bring her papa back Who is her true family Link to full review here:
sitelink wordpres
Here is an excerpt:
Oh, My. Gosh! I loved how intense it was, and how everything weaves into each other so well! Even though this is aimed for tweens and teens, I still enjoyed it as an older teen.
Kelly's Search for Family starts off beautifully, a young girl and her single father who runs the local light house.
Readers are immediately drawn in to likable Kelly and the mysterious situation of who her mother was, Kelly's father had promised to tell her about her mother when she was old enough, and now she is,
The character of Granny was so lovable and sweet, and her strength and tenacity made the story worth reading.
There were some plot twists that really left me scratching my head and wondering what on earth was going on, one of which is why I left three.
Read on for spoilers and reasons,
SPOILERS
The idea of antebellum thugs kidnapping Kelly's father over a ring is plausible, The idea that the man who killed Kelly's mother has redeemed himself is also plausible,
But the idea that Papa, who was kidnapped by thugs, escaped but then opted not to go home, but to fall in love and get married before reassuring his child he's okay was horrible! I was so shocked.
A man who put his life on hold to raise Kelly, coming home with a new wife and her three children, was not only implausible, but also left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth.
What a wretched man he is for doing such a thing when thugs are attempting to kill his daughter and her beloved granny.
.Stars This story takes place after The Civil War, on a small island where Kelly and her papa a responsible for the lighthouse.
It is Kelly's birthday and her papa has decided to tell her the truth about her mother, What Kelly hears is not what she or this reader expected, While she is trying to acclimate to the information about her mother, some men show up on the island and her papa agrees to go with them.
He tells her they are dangerous and to hide, What happens after that is scary, yet with her faith, her friends and even her animals, she is able to survive and persevere.
This is the second book in The Searcher's series, and although I enjoyed it, I liked the first book more.
The characters in this book were more over the top, with this young girl and her adopted granny being able to summon up the strength to move heavy crates, spend scary nights alone in a lighthouse on an island, and to some degree, fight off some evil men.
There was adventure, family love, danger and all that was held together by faith, prayer and the words from scripture.
I was glad to see her papa survives and comes home to her, but the rest of the ending was a bit to much for me.
Overall, I enjoy this middle grade series, The power of prayer and faith are strong in this story as well as the theme of redemption and forgiveness.
A good story for a Christian School or classroom or for a family that values Christian themes and literature, I received a copy of this book from Just Reads Publicity in exchange for an honest review, The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own, This is my second dip into the Searchers series, I reviewed 'Daisy's Search for Freedom' back in December, I appreciate this series written for middle grade readers that takes on the tough topics of history and presents them in an appropriate and manageable way while also infusing faith into the characters.
There are so many little takeaways that not only help our children better understand history but also to strengthen their faith.
I mean, let's face it, Munch was reading at a middle grade level when he was like, Finding appropriate reading material that also kept him engaged was hard! It is only getting harder as he gets older, I mean he'snow and like reading like college level or something.
OK not really but that's what it feels like sometimes, So, finding appropriate reading material is important to me and this fits the bill,
Not that it's all sunshine and roses and I find the book perfect, I had a couple of little hiccups, Now, before you jump and yell at me please remember that I am very aware that this was a very different time.
Life really was simpler, in some aspects but much the same in others, When the 'bad guys' come and Papa leaves Kelly locked in and tells her if he's not back to go for help I was super like 'wait what!!'.
I'm going to leave my only child home alone on an isolate island while I take off who knows where with evil men and let's just hope they forget she exists.
Really How do you expect this child to go for help exactly Secondly, Granny and her absolute belief that Homer was absolutely a safe good person.
I won't spoiler here but I feel like it was a little bit abrupt and it concerned me the ideas that our children could take away from that.
Finally, I hiccuped over the timeline, The time brushes together and it's hard to distinguish if it was days, weeks, or months, It reads as though it was days to maybe a week but other things happen that allude to a much longer time period.
The floaty feel to the timeline left me hiccuping out of control,
The rest though I loved, I loved that Kelly turned to prayer every time she worried and fretted or was scared or overwhelmed, Oh how even adults needs to develop this outlet more, To be more open to turning to the Heavenly Father for help in these times instead of our penchant to just power through and sometimes flap around drowning under our own mite.
The other thing, and perhaps I'm just weird in noticing this, is Granny, I never pieced together that Granny was black through the entire story, She was Granny. If her heritage was ever indicated I never picked up on it, she was Granny right It wasn't until, . . well spoiler but let's just say that another character who was identified by heritage in correlation to her when I realized she was actually a former slave and not just actually Granny or even family friend.
How refreshing to see that
in a book for our children, but also to see that the distinction wasn't defined during such a tremulous time in history as after the Civil War.
All in all this is a great book that I think is perfect for a young reader to truly grasp a bit of history and a whole lot of faith.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Just Read, I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own, I was not required to write a positive review,
Originally posted at sitelink com/kelley . Bertha Schwartz is a Swiss Amish transplant to the beautiful farmland of Nappanee, Indiana, She loves spending time with family and friends, including fifty two nieces and nephews, Her hobbies include scrapbooking, sewing, and reading, Raised near the lovely Swiss city of Berne, Indiana, Swiss is her mother language, Languages and different dialects are a special interest of hers, .
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