Faith On Every Corner - March 2020

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Best Family Ever (A Baxter Family Children Story) Best Family Ever by Tyler Russell, Karen Kingsbury Age Range - 8 - 12 Genre - Faith-based

Reviewer: Emmaline

Age at time of review - 11

Reviewer’s Location - Orange City, IA, United States

View Emmaline’s profile

The Best Family Ever is about the Baxter Family: Mom, Dad, Brooke, Kari, Ashley, Erin, and Luke. The book is written from the viewpoint of Kari and Ashley. Both girls are in middle school and share the details of their family life from their perspective. The family is a God-fearing family that tries to live a good life and serve each other and others. However, this isn’t always - with things like Ashley being jealous of her sister Brooke, who seems too perfect to her, and her younger sister Erin, which causes sibling rivalry. The kids have to continuously learn how to relate to each other and embrace their differences even when big changes occur. This book is a refreshing change from stories that focus on negative struggles and situations. It’s an excellent reminder of the positive role of a structured family.

Opinion: The Best Family Ever is a good book. The critiques I had were that the Baxter family seemed a little too perfect, and the book alternated between two of the children, Ashley and Kari, but there was no pattern (i.e. Ashley, Kari, Ashely, Kari). It was hard for me to follow because of this. One thing I would change is to add a little more conflict or excitement. However, I loved reading about a more normal family where divorce hadn’t affected them and the kids weren’t naughty and didn’t hate each other. Some good things were that there was some sibling rivalry (there could be more - even good families fight and deal with hard things!) and an exciting trip to California.

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