The Becket List

The Becket List: A Blackberry Farm Story 
by Adele Griffin; illustrated by LeUyen Pham
208 pages; ages 7 - 11
Algonquin Young Readers, 2019

Rebecca Branch is a city kid, born and bred. From subways to sidewalks, she knows how to navigate her habitat. But now that third grade has ended, her family is moving to the country to live with Grandma at Blueberry Farm. Family includes mom and dad, who are veterinarians, older sister, Caroline, who is on the cusp of teendom, and Rebecca’s twin brother, Nicholas, who is his own person.

Rebecca is looking forward to being a country kid. She wants to get a “country dog” even though Mr. Fancypants has been a faithful canine companion. And she decides to change her name to Becket because, she points out to her family, “Rebecca doesn’t fit me…”  Still, she does bring some of her old life with her, like an entire moving box filled with penguins. The stuffed kind, not the live, fishy, flippery kind.

One of the things Becket does is start a list about How To Be a Country Kid. The other thing she does is shout out “beautiful alerts” to remind people to enjoy the natural beauty around them.

Becket wants to be of use, so she adopts farm chores: feeding Grandma’s donkey, mule, and 97 chickens – including the mean Lady Godiva. There’s summer camp, a lemonade business, and tractor-driving lessons. But mostly, there’s a story about family and friendships and growing up.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle , so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.