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rereader33's review
3.0
2022 April Its Raining Rereads Challenge
Self-imposed Bonus Prompt: reread a book you read in school you barely remember
Okay, weird bonus prompt but just stick with me. When I was in elementary school, I had to read this book when we were discussing frontiers, pioneers, etc. And I kid you not, the only thing I remembered about this book is that there was bread in it. That's it. So after remembering that I read this book waaay back in the olden days, I decided to give it a reread. And it was pretty good.
While the men were pretty obnoxious for the most part (Jake's the only one that gets any character development and that just amounts to him being less condescending and patronizing), I did like Maggie's character development and growth. Also, I loved the ending. Good for you, Maggie, you strong, independent woman!
The descriptions of life on the frontier were good and concise (something I'm practically ravenous for in this era of overly descriptive language) and while the plot isn't much to speak of, it works well enough. I feel like this is akin to Out of the Dust were it predominantly exists to educate younger readers about growing up in the frontier without reading like a textbook.
Overall, this was a fast and solid read. I don't have any major complaints, but it wasn't the greatest middle grade book ever either. Read it if you're interested.
Self-imposed Bonus Prompt: reread a book you read in school you barely remember
Okay, weird bonus prompt but just stick with me. When I was in elementary school, I had to read this book when we were discussing frontiers, pioneers, etc. And I kid you not, the only thing I remembered about this book is that there was bread in it. That's it. So after remembering that I read this book waaay back in the olden days, I decided to give it a reread. And it was pretty good.
While the men were pretty obnoxious for the most part (Jake's the only one that gets any character development and that just amounts to him being less condescending and patronizing), I did like Maggie's character development and growth. Also, I loved the ending. Good for you, Maggie, you strong, independent woman!
The descriptions of life on the frontier were good and concise (something I'm practically ravenous for in this era of overly descriptive language) and while the plot isn't much to speak of, it works well enough. I feel like this is akin to Out of the Dust were it predominantly exists to educate younger readers about growing up in the frontier without reading like a textbook.
Overall, this was a fast and solid read. I don't have any major complaints, but it wasn't the greatest middle grade book ever either. Read it if you're interested.
jac581's review
5.0
I remember reading and rereading this book after the author came to speak at my elementary school.
sydarv's review against another edition
4.0
Went on a library tour of Western Pennsylvania so I could reread this guy while home for the holidays. As a 9-year old, this book was peak frontier adventure-story with a bad-a** female lead who not only survives on her own in the wilderness, but also bakes bread for all her friends!
For just over 150 pages, this book is ACTION-packed. Maggie Callahan, a teenager sent to live with her aunt and uncle in central Pennsylvania, arrives to find her family has headed West without her a la Home Alone 1 and 2. At her aunt's abandoned cabin, Maggie meets Jake Logan--regrettably not a hot boy with a promising surf/modeling career--but a grizzly 60-something year old mountain man who is most *definitely* a sexual predator. SOS.
After surviving drowning in a river, being buried alive in snow, and burning to ashes in the fire that destroyed her cabin, Maggie works her way into the hearts and stomachs of her frontier community, but eventually leaves it all to travel West with J-Dawg Logan to find her Aunt Franny after all. Stay tuned for Book 2!
For just over 150 pages, this book is ACTION-packed. Maggie Callahan, a teenager sent to live with her aunt and uncle in central Pennsylvania, arrives to find her family has headed West without her a la Home Alone 1 and 2. At her aunt's abandoned cabin, Maggie meets Jake Logan--regrettably not a hot boy with a promising surf/modeling career--but a grizzly 60-something year old mountain man who is most *definitely* a sexual predator. SOS.
After surviving drowning in a river, being buried alive in snow, and burning to ashes in the fire that destroyed her cabin, Maggie works her way into the hearts and stomachs of her frontier community, but eventually leaves it all to travel West with J-Dawg Logan to find her Aunt Franny after all. Stay tuned for Book 2!
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