The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry
by Chad Morris (Author)
Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry lives in a cabin with her family deep in the wild woods. Living off the grid is usually exciting, like the time she chased off three growling raccoons with a tree branch and some acorns, or when she thought she glimpsed the legendary Bigfoot.
But her happy life in the wild ends abruptly when her younger brother gets sick, and the family moves to the city to be closer to the hospital. Juniper and her older sister are sent to live with cousins they hardly know and attend a public school for the first time, which is harder to navigate than the wild woods ever were. Juniper feels like a wolf cub separated from her pack. When Juniper notices that her cousin, Alayna, is being bullied by so-called friends, she's ready to fight back like the wild geese do when protecting their goslings, but her cousin tells her to stay out of it; she doesn't want Juniper making things worse.
As the hospital bills for her brother start piling up, Juniper knows they'll need to be paid before the family can go back to the woods, so she decides to make enough money to help out. With Alayna's support, Juniper starts posting videos filled with her wisdom from the woods, hoping to get a following. But what if it doesn't work? What if the bills never get paid? Not going home to the wild is Juniper's worst nightmare. But while she's stuck in the city, she might as well make the most of it, like sticking up for her cousin, for starters.
The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry is a story about perseverance when faced with difficult and unfamiliar challenges, belonging and finding your identity, compassion for others, and learning that our differences can sometimes be our strengths.
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Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry has lived her entire life happily off the grid with her parents, older sister Sky, and younger brother Hawk, far away from the pressures of society. But when five-year-old Hawk's appendix bursts, his harried hospital visit thrusts Juniper into contemporary civilization, a world she's only imagined and never longed for that's brimming with seemingly magical machines and new foods. Sent with Sky to Redburn, Calif., to live with relatives she didn't know existed while Hawk recovers, Juniper aches to return to their family's remote lifestyle. Enrolled in school for the first time, she must contend with mean girls, an exasperated cousin, and more rules than she could ever hope to understand. For a girl well versed in climbing trees and living off the land, navigating life among the masses may prove to be more challenging than any danger she ever faced in the woods. Juniper's first-person voice and the many memorably developed characters she meets cultivate a feel-good story that reminds readers of both the pitfalls and the benefits of coexisting with others. Juniper is described as looking like her white mother; her father has "dark curly hair and light brown skin." Ages 8-10. (Aug.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 5 Up--Eleven-year-old Juniper Berry loves living in the woods. She hunts, climbs trees, fox-walks, and goes to earth school, but she doesn't like doing laundry. Living off the grid with her parents Zephyr and Clara, her older sister Skylark, and younger brother Hawk, Juni has no desire to enter what Clara calls "society." But when Hawk gets sick, Juni and her family make the 20-mile hike to the city where Juni learns about refrigerators, phones, peanut butter, public school, and that she has family--an uncle and two cousins--she didn't know about. With Hawk hospitalized and medical bills mounting, Juni is determined to help her family pay for his care. But trying to find her way in school is hard, and she makes some mistakes along the way. As she struggles to adapt to this new life, Juni finds out that she wants to make friends and that there are society people who care. VERDICT This is a high interest book with a complex and compelling protagonist, that addresses mental health issues, the importance of family, connecting to nature, valuing different strengths, and standing up for what is right.--Rebekah J. Buchanan
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
Family life
Schools
Survival
Cousins
JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Emotions &
Novels
JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / New Experi
Perseverance
