Publisher’s Blurb
Everywhere twelve-year-old Andrea Carter goes, trouble follows. Even in the middle of the main street in Fresno, California. When Andi takes part in a reckless, impromptu horse race with her friend Cory, she nearly tramples her new teacher—not a good way to start the fall term!
And that mishap is only the beginning. Good intentions just aren’t enough to keep Andi out of trouble. When an escaped prisoner forces his way into the schoolroom, Andi must make one of the hardest decisions of her life. Should she deliberately walk into danger to save a tormenting, mean-spirited schoolmate? Or is the price of following the Golden Rule just too high?
This anniversary edition of another exciting adventure in the Old West of the 1880s with beloved heroine Andi Carter is sure to be a favorite addition to schoolgirl bookshelves.
General Book Info
- Publisher’s age group: ages 9-14
- Discerned age group: ages 16+
- Main character(s): Andrea “Andi” Carter, age 12
- Character quality: Low
- Setting: Late summer 1880; San Joaquin Valley, CA
Content
🙏 Biblical: The teacher read from the Bible; Andi thanked God; Andi’s friend prayed for her; mentions of God sprinkled throughout the book; mention of being a Christian young lady
📚 Educational: You are always rewarded when you do the right thing; lessons to be learned from
🪄 Occult: Luck was mentioned several times
☠️ Violence/Death/Fear: Andi nearly trampled her teacher; mention of Andi wanting to break an arm so she can avoid school; other mentions of blood, killing people, murders, guns and hurting people with them, lynching, fighting, thrashing kids at school, jail, and wounds; a schoolmate fainted and hit her head on a desk; a girl fell off of a horse; Andi’s older brother went into a murder trial for a dead man
*Spoiler*
A murderer kidnapped Andi and shot her in the head by accident (no permanent damage was done and Andi recovered)
*End of Spoiler*
🤬 Profanity: Moderately harsh talking including a “heavens no”, hates, a few shut ups, and other inappropriate things
🚬 Drugs/Drinking/Smoking: N/A
💋 Romantic/Sexual: N/A
Other Notes: Mention of spitballs, peashooters, and stealing; instances where people lie even though it’s for “good” purposes (more on that below)
My Review
[I discerned this book a “No”.]
Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision is an action-packed novel about Andi’s dangerous and adventurous experiences at school. But, unfortunately, that is the exact reason why this book is making my discerned “no” list.
BTW: If you haven’t already read the “Violence/Death/Fear“ section above, I recommend you do that before seeing what I have to say about it.
Now that you’ve read all of that, you should definitely have your red flags up! Why in the world would a Christian author be writing about those inappropriate things for 9-14-year-olds?! The author took this saying a teacher once taught her, “Create the most appealing characters you can, and then think up the worst kinds of problems for them to overcome.”, way too literal for the age group she chose. All books, let alone Christian-based novels, talking about murder and violence shouldn’t be read by any kids of any age!
Secondly, as I said in my review of the first book in the Circle C Adventures series (you can read about that book review here), I think the author should have mentioned God more than the few here-and-there places sprinkled throughout the book since this is supposed to be a Christian novel. This could mislead some people into thinking this book is a good and a wholesome Christian novel just because it mentions God and the characters are praying. But that is definitely NOT true!
Lastly, I would like to talk more about lying. In one instance, Cory, Andi’s friend, tried to repay Andrea by lying because he did something he shouldn’t have and tried to make up for it. This is a bad lesson that some children could attach to and justify to themselves that lying, just this once, is okay. Even if we think the outcome will be horrible or even fatal if we don’t lie, God has everything under control and we need to trust Him (not saying it will be easy, by any means!). God makes it very clear in the Bible that there are no excuses for lying.
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.
Proverbs 19:9
Sounds pretty intense, right?
To summarize, I think that Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision is an unseemly violence novel written for children. The profanity was also not appropriate (couldn’t list some of the words) and it had incorrect values about lying. These novels and the like can be deceiving because they mention God and the Bible, but the rest of the content does not match up. Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision is a book that should be avoided.
Leave a Comment!
Have you read Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision or any books in this series before? Do you think any children should be reading this violent of a novel? Let me know in the comments below!
Note: I was permitted to use this book review template by Last Days Lifestyle, who is the original creator of it.
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