Finding Hope
For ages 8+
The life-changing, life-affirming adventure Ava never knew she needed.
By Nicola Baker, illustrated by Rachael Dean (Simon & Schuster, 2024)
When I was approached to by the publisher to give ‘Finding Hope’ a read, once I'd read the press release, it didn't matter that I'd never heard of Whistledown Farm or Nicola Baker from her TV series ‘Our Farm on the Dales’ or any subsequent related publicity. I did have a petit niggle in the back of my mind as to whether Nicola had had a ghost/co-writer, like most celebrities do, however, chatting to her PR I absolutely felt on board due to the obvious gap of representation in contemporary middle grade fiction for children living in rural communities. I had high ‘hopes’ (pun intended)!! Ha!
I absolutely loved this book. Hats off! Nicola has written this herself, she hasn't a secret writer penning her farmyard adventure story. Yay or should I say Baa! The author used to write a lot when she was younger, and has been thrilled to have been given the opportunity to revisit her passion now that her life with her family on the farm is settled, and providing endless sources of inspiration for her new Children's book series. She sent an online message to us at the publisher event in London yesterday and explained that she wanted to connect farming/seasons/nature in her stories so that children living in rural settings will be able to see themselves in a book, and the children living in cities will be able to use their imagination to escape to the country! Moreover, she feel that by writing about farm life, and the more importantly the more day-to-day running of a farm, children may find out that “passions may lie in the things we least expect”…. which leads me nicely into my review of the book!
10 year old Ava spends a couple of weeks at with her Aunt Kitty, Uncle John, and cousin Tom on their farm during the Easter holidays, and it's the life-changing, life-affirming she never knew she needed. Having grown up in the city with her mum and dad, Ava has barely spent any time noticing nature. Mum and Dad are important scientists, workaholics most likely, excited about their breakthrough, they head off to the USA, leaving Ava feeling like a fish out of water at Whistledown Farm. As loving as her Aunt and Uncle are, Ava has to constantly balance her feelings of abandonment with new feelings of not fitting into the bustling dawn ‘til dusk duties of caring for the animals, fields and woodland. It doesn’t help that Tom, also 10, is resentful of Ava's new found enthusiasm and bravado for a life that she has never previously cared to take an interest before when in visiting.
As the story picks up pace, so Ava's outlook lifts, and she is fascinated and hands on with lambing, feeding the chickens, mending fences and keeping an eye out across the fields and woods for things that need sorting out to keep them all safe. Children reading the story, without any knowledge or experience of lambing, like myself, will find these events so interesting and unforgettable. It's easy to feel as though you are standing right next to Ava as she watches the newborn lambs being born, the angst as to whether the ewe will help it take its first breath and nurture it. Ava discovers a lost lamb in the fields, barely clinging to life, who she names ‘Hope’, and through her tireless and self-sacrificing efforts to love and care for Hope, together they overcome their sorrows and become inseparable.
There are many ups and downs as Ava and Tom develop their friendship, and in the end blood is absolutely thicker than water, as they tackle a very serious problem and solve a mystery involving criminal intruders towards the end of the story - a very gripping episode!!
With themes including living in the city vs the countryside, the reality of life out in nature where life and death are daily occurrences, empathy towards kids who don't have the love and attention from their parents ending up with abandonment issues, the restorative and confidence building of being in nature and working the land, connecting humans and animals in ways that brings about new understandings to the symbiotic relationship between both life cycles and the food chain. Where there are many younger reader chapter book fiction series for animal lovers featuring pets and farm animals, this is a welcome series for the slightly older and more advanced reader. Adorable black and white illustrations by the highly respected Rachael Dean throughout. Book 2 ‘Rescuing Ruby’ is available for preorder/adding to your Wishlist, out in October 2024.
Excerpts from the book
PRAISE
‘Baker is a gifted writer, and her bucolic adventure harks back to classic farm stories such as those written by Dick King Smith and Michael Morpurgo’ The Bookseller
Reviewed from paperback uncorrected proof.
