Daniel's big surprise

The Bradford Family Adventures #1

by Jerry B. Jenkins, Richard D. Wahl (Illustrator)

Anxious to have someone his own age in the family, eleven-year-old Daniel begins to help out at the local orphanage in the hope that his parents will adopt one of the orphans.

Genres: Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Jerry Bruce Jenkins is an American novelist and biographer. He is best known as the writer of the Left Behind series of books for Tim LaHaye and The Chosen novels to accompany his son Dallas's TV series. Jenkins has written more than 200 books, including mysteries, historical fiction, biblical fiction, cop thrillers, international spy thrillers, and children's adventures, as well as nonfiction. His works usually feature Christians as protagonists. In 2005, Jenkins and LaHaye ranked 9th in Amazon.com's 10th Anniversary list of Hall of Fame authors based on books sold at Amazon.com during its first 10 years. Jenkins now teaches writers to become authors here at his website. He and his wife Dianna have three sons and eight grandchildren.

Reviews

[Karina (Karina's Christian Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number of pages: 128

Genre: Children’s fiction

Series: The Bradford Family Adventures #1

Age recommendation: 8-10

Summary: Daniel is tired of being the youngest in his family, with no sibling near his age. Both of his older siblings are in high school, and it’s just not fair that they have each other and he’s stuck by himself. To pass the time – and hopefully make some new friends – Daniel’s brother Jim suggests he visit the children at the home near their house.

My thoughts: I don’t know if anyone else grew up listening to Children’s Bible Hour stories, but this book reminds me a lot of those kinds of stories. (It is basically a wholesome 80’s story about a Christian family).
I found it to be surprisingly good. Daniel is a relatable/realistic character (for the most part). I’m thinking especially of the part where Daniel really wants to beat his brother at basketball, but he doesn’t want his brother to go easy on him. At the same time, he also doesn’t want to be trounced because his brother is so much better.
Yolanda is an amazing character. She is so kind and I’m glad Danny gets her for a sister after all. Although, I do feel like this was only a surprise for Daniel and not everyone else. If you read this, don’t worry, it is pretty obvious when you read the book anyway.
Jim and Maryann are really good siblings. They are kind, and no matter how much they tease, they really love their little brother. The family dynamic really reminds me of my own family. I did find it weird though, when Jim took Danny to the orphanage – sorry, children’s home. And while I’m on that topic, I can’t believe a school would ever take their class on a field trip to an orphanage. Just saying.
Overall, it was a good book for elementary schoolers.

My personal rating: 4/5 stars.

Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...