1378 Oak Street

---

This is a short novelette and it is a fun story.  I went the entire story thinking it was autobiographic, and then on the last page she says that it is fiction, and that it is loosely based on her experiences. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed, but that’s ok. It  was still fun to read. I agree with her that children do not play enough these days. I’m always kicking my kids outside. I

 

I like the tone and voice of this story. Ms. Whitmore’s writing definitely makes you feel like you are standing right there on Oak Street watching the story unfold. I related to some of her experiences, but not all of them. I shared a room with my sister, as did she, and we had some fun times together. My siblings and I also made plenty of mud pies out in the sandbox, so that was a fun memory to remember. The experiences she had with the neighbor kids were interesting. They were not very nice. Thankfully I didn’t have neighbors like that.

 

I didn’t love the ending of the story, but it was ok. It just seemed out of place, I thought, but it did have a purpose. It was fun to read about life in another part of the country.

 

Overall I enjoyed the story. I would recommend it.

 

Rating: PG (It’s clean!)

 

Recommendation: 13 and up. It is clean, but some of the subject matter might disturb some of the younger readers (They eat goat at a bbq and there is a church scene with them getting baptized at the end. Also at the end a thief runs into their house and there is a police standoff.)

 

Disclosure: I received a free book in exchange for my honest review.