Book Reviews (and a Giveaway!): the Tree Street Kids series, books 1 & 2 by Amanda Cleary Eastep

I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to read the first two books in the new Tree Street Kids series by Amanda Cleary Eastep – Jack vs The Tornado and The Hunt for Fang! Check out this trailer below:

JACK VS THE TORNADO
SERIES: Tree Street Kids #1
GENRE: Inspirational Middle Grade Fiction
READING AGE: 8-12 years
PUBLISHER: Moody Publishers
RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2021
PAGES: 192

Adventures, friendships, and faith-testers . . . all under the watchful eye of a great big God.

The Tree Street Kids live on Cherry, Oak, Maple, and Pine, but their 1990s suburban neighborhood is more than just quiet, tree-lined streets. Jack, Ellison, Roger, and Ruthie face challenges and find adventures in every creek and cul-de-sac—as well as God’s great love in one small neighborhood.

In the first book of the Tree Street Kids series, 10-year-old Jack is shocked to discover his parents are moving from their rural homestead to the boring suburbs of Chicago. Full of energy and determination, Jack devises a plan to get himself back to his beloved farmhouse forever. Only three things stand in his way: a neighbor in need, a shocking discovery, and tornado season. Will Jack find a solution? Or is God up to something bigger than Jack can possibly imagine?

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THE HUNT FOR FANG
SERIES: Tree Street Kids #2
GENRE: Inspirational Middle Grade Fiction
READING AGE: 8-12 years
PUBLISHER: Moody Publishers
RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2021
PAGES: 240

Adventures, friendships, and faith-testers . . . all under the watchful eye of a great big God.

The Tree Street Kids live on Cherry, Oak, Maple, and Pine, but their 1990s suburban neighborhood is more than just quiet, tree-lined streets. Jack, Ellison, Roger, and Ruthie face challenges and find adventures in every creek and cul-de-sac—as well as God’s great love in one small neighborhood.

In Book 2 of the Tree Street Kids series, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church’s summer camp. They’ll need them! Determined to find Ruthie’s lost cat and protect Jack’s new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they’ve cornered the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing. Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?

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Books 3 & 4 coming Summer 2022!

Amanda Cleary Eastep’s debut middle grade series is off to such a fabulous start! As I mentioned last week in my review for A Most Clever Girl, I use the C.S. Lewis litmus test for whether I consider a children’s book good or not – is it enjoyable for adults too? These first two books in the Tree Street Kids series definitely pass that test! I had FUN reading these stories and I can’t wait until my youngest niece & nephews grow into middle grade fiction so I can read it with them.

The hero of our series, Jack, provides the first person narrative, and Eastep does a fantastic job of channeling 10-year-old boy as she wrote these stories. Jack’s perspective on the events in his world are matter-of-fact, winsome, and heartfelt, and readers of all ages will quickly embrace his character and the family & friends he gathers around him. I also appreciated the diversity of the characters in these books – not only in ethnicity but in experiences, too. Not every child is from a nurturing home… or a Christian home… or a two-parent home. And then there’s Jack who is from all of those things but has moved from his rural Illinois family farm to a Chicago suburb where his dad has to work out of town and only comes home on the weekends. The elderly next-door neighbor in Jack vs the Tornado and the bully in The Hunt for Fang allow for additional layers to be explored and provide many opportunities to talk with young readers about what loving our neighbors as ourselves really means.

Bottom Line: The little touches in Jack vs the Tornado and The Hunt for Fang make the Tree Street Kids series exceptional. Warmth, authenticity, and a child’s sense of curiosity grace each page of these books, and the cute illustrations & fun, quick ‘story breaks’ (like glimpses at other middle grade novels through the eyes of Ellison, or biology facts from Jack’s Ramona-esque sister Midge… and more) keep the entertainment level high. Relatable, diverse characters and simple but sincere messages of faith remind us that God is with us, even when we have to go through tough times. Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series and Paula Danziger’s Amber Brown books have long been favorites of mine, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read another children’s author whose writing style is just as charming – and I’ve found that in Amanda Cleary Eastep. I will be buying these for every middle grade reader I can find!

(I voluntarily reviewed complimentary copies of these books. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

My Rating: 5 stars / In a class by themselves!

AMANDA CLEARY EASTEP is not related to Beverly Cleary but wishes she were. She is, however, a children’s author, and the Tree Street Kids is her debut series (Moody Publishers, 2021 and 2022). Her children’s writing has been published in Ladybug, The Friend, Sunday school curriculum, and at Story Warren. As a longtime writer, she’s contributed to Christianity Today, Think Christian, and many other print and online publications. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she leads writing workshops at her local teen center.

Amanda is also the senior developmental editor at Moody Publishers in Chicago, working closely with authors to help shape Christian nonfiction books in the areas of Christian living, church and ministry, and personal and spiritual growth.

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The publisher is offering a print copy of the first two books in the Tree Street Series – Jack vs the Tornado and The Hunt for Fang – by Amanda Cleary Eastep to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What makes you want to read the Tree Street Kids series by Amanda Cleary Eastep? Which young reader in your life do you want to read them with?