THE FINAL REU OF NAVEENA BLEU: ONE GIRL’S QUEST FOR GUTS AND GLORY follows the journey of a young girl who discovers her inner strength and helps to break down barriers between communities.

Naveena Blue LaDuke  (aka Navy) is a 13-year-old girl with typical 13-year-old problems, but she’s also worried about her parents, because once a month a cow is stolen from the family farm. Despite her very real fears that she’s somewhat of a wimp when it comes to just about everything, Navy decides she must help her parents and find out who is stealing the cows. Navy suspects that is one of the Behemorph shape-shifting giants who live in SkyWorld and who have been known to eat little girls like her for breakfast. However, she hitches a ride on a giant’s coattails when it comes to steal another cow,  and finds herself in the land of the Behemorphs. Now, Navy will have to confront her fears and team up with a giant in order to find her way home.

This middle grade book combines mystery, suspense, and some hard-knock life lessons to teach children the value of standing up for yourself, being open and willing to understand the “other”, and finding common ground with those that you may see as “different.” Author Pamela Hartley does a wonderful job of building the tension. She manages to constantly create both internal and external obstacles for Navy as the book progresses. From learning that everything she has heard about all giants simply isn’t true, to understanding that there are evil forces in the world and at times you have no choice but to fight, Hartley uses a great deal of internal monologue that allows us to see Navy wrestle with her own fears.  At times it is an excellent tool. However, at others, it comes off as overkill, as if the young readers aren’t capable of drawing lessons from the scenarios placed before them.

As a middle grade book, there are some scenes that really are visually terrifying and perhaps a little too strong for the age bracket. However, Hartley never lets the action flag. Short, snappy chapters that usually impart one kernel of wisdom after another, make THE FINAL RUE OF NAVEENA BLEU a quick page turner. Along with wonderful descriptions of creatures in Skyworld, including frogdogs (exactly what you think they are), and accompanying black and white drawings at the beginning of each chapter, there’s a real charm to this story. That Hartley can impart some powerful life lessons to youngsters while still keeping them enthralled with battle scenes and constant tension, is a testament to her understanding of exactly what young people need to connect with a character.

That Navy discovers her very own “girl power” and helps to change they way her community views the world around them, makes for a wonderful book in an age of desperation and cynicism.

~Kelly Hartog for IndieReader