An engaging and realistic read for an increasingly environmentally conscious generation. Also worth recommending to outdoor enthusiasts.

Eighth grader Ginny Shepard, in Sara St. Antoine’s new book Front Country, falls prey to a sudden obsession that overshadows the rest of her life. She falls in love with the most adorable animal she has ever seen, the pika, and then learns that it may not survive in the midst of climate change. Suddenly her homework, tennis, and summer college prep lose their importance.

The author’s portrayal of this fixated middle schooler rings true as does her portrayal of the overreaction by her parents when they ship her to a summer camp with five borderline delinquent boys in the Montana wilderness. Two counselors, who have their own issues, are supposed to straighten out all of the irresponsible kids in this back country and ready them for reentry into the front country. Their methods include lots of rules and wilderness challenges and a scarcity of teenagers’ favorite foods.

In the beginning, Ginny remains at a loss to discover why she has been sent into this wilderness. She comes to understand the process behind her parents’ thinking and slowly forms relationships with the boys and the counselors. Eventually, she will find her beloved pikas in the wilderness about the time her parents realize they may have made a mistake in sending her there.

The universal issue of climate change and the more personal issues for kids of keeping focus and for adults of parenting with understanding are woven into an engaging story. This would be a good book for parents and middle grade students to read and discuss together.

First I would like to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.

When Ginny enters the 8th grade, her science teacher strikes a cord with her by talking about climate change and how quickly species are dying out, and how fast changes are being made to the planet. Ginny finds herself mired down by all she learns about how humans are effecting the earth, and begins to question if the things she has always found so important such as having the perfect GPA or tennis practice should really be something she cares about, when the planet is in such dire straights. Ginny's parents are concerned as she begins to drop out of activities such as tennis lessons, and not show as much interest in her grades, and begins to question what matters in life. That summer Ginny thinks she is going on a backpacking vacation in Montana, which turns out to be a program for "troubled teens" to help them to find their way. Ginny soon finds herself as the only girl with a handful of boys trying to make her way surviving a month in the Montana wilderness while she is supposed to be participating in various activities to learn more about herself. The counselors tell them that they will be learning life lessons in the "Back Country" that they can eventually bring back with them to the "Front Country" when they return to their regular lives.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the differnt characters, and the concept of the teenagers completing different activities/skills such as pitching tents, hiking, cleaning the campsite, etc, to learn to work together etc. was interesting. I did wonder if Ginny would have really been so "all or nothing" that she would stop everything in her life in protest of climate change, and it was a little odd that these teenages were in the woods for a month with only two young adult counselors. Even though I did enjoy the nature descriptions and seeing the various characters get to know each other and themselves, and the acknowledgement that teens are struggling with some very real life issues with a slight nod here and there to COVID and the pandemic, it did drag a little in the middle for me. However, all in all this was a solid book for me and I enjoyed it.

Ginny, named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg, gets sent by her parents to Trackfinders, an outdoor camp for kids who need to get back on track. For Ginny's parents, being off track means Ginny has stopped playing tennis and cares less about her grades ever since she learned that her favorite animal, the Pika, will likely go extinct in her lifetime due to the climate crisis.

I thought the climate theme of this book was extremely relevant, however, I just had a hard time believing Ginny's family's reaction to her concerns for the climate and her choice to focus on that. While the author insinuated at one point in the story that her parents might just be scared too, it really just felt like they were over the top clueless. On top of that, the supposed resolution of the conflict between Ginny and her parents happened off page and didn't feel satisfying or believable at all.

In general, there was some excitement and fast pacing in the last part of the book, but pacing wise most of it seemed to drag on. I liked all of the tween characters except Maddox but ultimately cared little about the adult characters despite the author's attempts to make Brooklyn and Kai somewhat sympathetic towards the end of the book. I thought both the climate message and subtle inclusion of references to the COVID-19 pandemic but that didn't make up for the frustration about the parents and ultimately what felt to me like a lack of satisfying resolution there despite Ginny's great personal growth. The ending coupled with the pacing was why I just couldn't rate this higher.

Ginny is an eighth grader who loves the pikas - a small animal that may become endangered with the climate change. When she finds this out in her science class, she becomes very passionate and this lands her in an unusual camping expedition. It was different to read a story with a character that is from a functional and even highly successful family deciding they have a difficult child because she is getting off of "the path" to success with her love of nature. The group of campers makes you think about a variety of groups of kids that are commonly found in schools and having them in the same space to work together makes for an interesting story. I think it really worked and will bring this title in for small reading groups in my fifth grade classroom. Good topics but written appropriately for upper elementary.

As a lover of the outdoors and a science teacher, I was delighted to recieve an ARC for Front Country by Sara St. Antoine. From the book description, I expected a happy little story about a teen girl overcoming some challenges in the outdoors, but it was so much more than that. The book quickly took a turn when I learned that Ginny was sent to the wilderness program because her parents were hoping it would help "fix" all her challenges she'd had that spring when she lost herself in the worries about climate change. Ginny's fellow camp mates, five teen boys, were fascinating characters, each with their own stories to tell. St. Antoine built in a lot of real-life complications for the teens, but nothing that felt so complicated it was unbelievable. I think a lot of teens would see parts of themselves in this group of teens. The book had some twists I wasn't expecting, which made it a lot of fun to read, and I really enjoyed how it all came together. Overall, I really recommend this book to readers - it really was a fun, delightful read that tugged on my heart.