Review: The Becket List: A Blackberry Farm Story

Title: The Becket List: A Blackberry Farm Story
Author: Adele Griffin, LeUyen Pham (pictures)
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Adventure and discover with the bold and intrepid Becket Branch when her family’s move from city to a country farm means big changes!

Everything is changing for Becket Branch. From subways to sidewalks to safety rules, Becket is a city kid born and raised. Now the Branch family is trading urban bustle for big green fields and moving to Gran’s farm, where Becket has to make sense of new routines from feeding animals to baling hay. And as much as Becket loves to yell “Beautiful Alert!” there’s a lot about the countryside that is just plain odd.

But Becket is ready to put her own spin on country life. Whether selling her mouth-puckering lemonade, feeding hostile hens, or trying to make a best friend of her new neighbor Frieda Franca, Becket is determined to use her city smarts to get a grip on farm living. Laugh and learn with Becket as she mucks through the messy, exuberant human experience of change she didn’t ask for, in a story that sparkles with quirky characters and lasting connections.

Review:

This is a great story about growing up and life changes.

Becket goes through many changes in this book. At the beginning, her family moves to her grandmother’s farm. She has to adjust from city life in an apartment to country life on a farm. She also goes to a camp, but it is very different from the camp she used to go to in the city. She doesn’t make friends as easily as she did before. I loved that Becket had to deal with all of these changes in this book, because often kids books just focus on one kind of life change rather than many different ones.

I loved the pictures in the book. There were some at the beginning, but they tapered off towards the end. I had an ARC so this may have changed in the final edition, but I would have loved to have even more pictures because they were so great!

The one thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending. I won’t spoil it, but something happens to one of the animals. It was upsetting to me, because I could relate to it, which made it difficult to read. Things happen to animals as part of life on a farm, so I understand why it was in the story. However, I don’t like reading about things that happen to animals, so it is a personal preference.

I really liked this story. It’s great for middle grade readers.

What to read next:

Have you read The Becket List: A Blueberry Farm Story? What did you think of it?