The Trouble with Skye (Keystone Stables, No. 1)
Grade 5-8 - At 13, Skye has exhausted the patience of the juvenile court and is headed for a detention center when a pair of experienced, Christian foster parents request custody of her. At their ranch, she learns to ride horses and begins to respond to the couple's love and discipline. With a heavy emphasis on a relationship with God, the narrative also tracks Skye's fear, anger, and other issues. The foster parents are cookie-cutter perfect, never becoming so much as mildly annoyed with her, not even when she is expelled from school. With a preachy approach and pedestrian writing, this novel never rises above average. Because this is the first in a projected series of six books about Skye, it's possible that her problems will be resolved in forthcoming titles. If Christian fiction is in demand, this isn't any worse than many of the secular series that most libraries carry by the yard, and could be something to offer parents who want their daughters to have an alternative to Mary Kate and Ashley.- Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.