Thirteen-year old Kate and her friends came up with the perfect way to raise money for her autistic younger brother and others to attend summer camp—a horse scavenger hunt! As local businesses donate money and prizes, Kate keeps the entry fees in her mom’s antique jewelry box. But when the box and the money disappear, Kate and her friends must unravel the clues, hold on to hope, and solve the mystery along the Blue Ribbon Trail Ride.
The book was another great story in the series that the group of friends overheard that the there was a camp that Pete, autistic brother to Kate, could go to but the family didn't have enough money to do it. The kids take off and decide to raise the money with a trail ride scavenger hunt. The money from the registrations will be used to send a few kids to camp while the prizes will be donated from the local businesses. The kids do all the work on the project and there are some pitfalls like loosing the entry fees and her mom's family heirloom jewelry box. It is a great story telling kids that they can do anything. At the end, the person who stole the jewelry box comes back to return it expecting that he will be taken by the police but the family takes another path. I might not agree fully with the message that this decision sends to the kids. I understand that it is still a positive message but I think that parents should read this with the kids or before so that you can discuss the different values in this book. The only bad thing that I can say is that all of the other books had recipes at the end and this book had directions on doing a scavenger hunt...which I guess makes sense but I was interested in the recipe for the snickerdoodles that they made. I don't think that stopped me from loving the book and I hope that you check it out for yourself or your kids. I think that you will enjoy it as much as I did.
**I was given a copy of the book for my review. All opinions here are my own.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful review and for taking the time to read and post. Also, to clarify, the reason we didn't see the police come at the end, is the parents wanted the kids to learn a lesson about forgiveness. You mentioned the recipes at the end of the other three books...I actually only gave one cookie recipe, one cake decorating instruction and one recipe for making 'horse' cookies...literally that you feed to a horse. However, I'd LOVE to share my snickerdoodle recipe with you. I'm going to put it in another comment so this isn't too long. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteI loved the recipe (even the one that I wouldn't make for the horses). I know that the police didn't come to teach them a lesson about forgiveness and it was a good message if kids took that away from it and not that you don't have consequences for your actions. I think that the conversation including both the adults and the kids was a great way to get that message across. I love all of the books and was super excited to read them...I thought with a little more in them that they would be adult books and not kids (of course, not what you were going for) but totally what I love in a book. I hope that my son will enjoy reading these soon with me!!!
DeleteAnd here's my Snickerdoodle recipe. I love these!
ReplyDelete½ cup butter (NOT margarine)
½ cup shortening
1 ½ cup sugar
2 eggs
Mix all together/blend well with blender
Add
2 ¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
Roll into balls (about one tablespoon each or a little bigger) then roll the balls in a mix of sugar and cinnamon (heavier on the cinnamon) and place on cookie sheet
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min.
YEAH!! Look, I ask and it appears :) My husband's favorite cookies and I have searched for recipes that he will love. I can't wait to try them!!!!! Thanks for sharing with everyone :)
DeleteI hope you enjoy them!! And if you want them a little richer, do 3/4 of a cup of butter and 1/4 of shortening. You might try a batch each way to see what you like best.
DeleteOh...I forgot...and if your cookies don't flatten enough (I do NOT like them big and puffy...they need to flatten nicely) then reduce the flour by 1/4 cup as well.
DeleteI like the flattened ones too!! I can't wait to try these. YUM!!! It is the only reason that I own cream of tarter so can't wait to try!! I might have just used up the last of the butter so it might mean a trip to the store soon.
DeleteAlison, sorry for hijacking your comment section for something unrelated to your post again, but Southern Savers posted today that Harris Teeter will have Super Doubles starting on 2/28 so I thought you might want to do (if you didn't already) http://www.southernsavers.com/harris-teeter-super-doubles-2-off-coupons-to-print/
ReplyDeleteAHHHH!! Good news is that I went through and got rid of my expired coupons and cut all my coupons. Bad news is that the paper on Friday didn't have any coupons here so I am bummed that I might have missed something. I am going to search for all the deals and totally go crazy!! I was going to go back and get a few deals the other day and it didn't happen. We have had a trip to the hospital for my son because the doctor couldn't see him and now looking like pink eye so I hope to get over all this by next week. I am a little sorry that I am working the whole week now!!!! Not enough time for shopping!!! There used to be a button where you could email me from my site but I think that it went away with some blogger update but you are more then welcome to do so anytime!! I am going to look for your email address and send you a message :)
DeleteYay, that might be better, I never know whether I should post those heads-up in a comment to an unrelated matter and I couldn't see an email address for you anywhere :) my email addy is imperfectlynathalie at gmail
Delete