In Dann and Kennedy Hurlbert’s Christian YA novel SUDDENLY RURAL GIRL, thirteen-year-old Dakota moves with her mother and five-year-old brother from a city in Michigan to a small village in Minnesota a few months after her father’s death. In the weeks before school starts, she finds solace in riding her elderly neighbor’s horse while she avoids her other neighbor: a quiet and unpopular boy named Jackson. When school begins, Dakota quickly becomes the target of a mean girl’s wrath, but she befriends an artsy girl and develops a crush on a cute Irish boy. Both help her find her footing in the new town, but then tragedy strikes at Jackson’s house—forcing Dakota to reconsider her mistrust of the odd boy. They soon help each other reconnect with their faith in God and their belief in the power of prayer to support those in need.
Dakota is a resilient girl who survives her beloved father’s unexpected death, a painful injury from falling off a horse, and a horrific explosion in which she witnesses something traumatizing—all with grace and dignity. She feels grief, loneliness, and nervousness deeply, but her ability to adapt to struggles is inspiring. Her engaging first-person narration offers a deep-dive into the mind of a teen girl, making her challenges relatable and her ambitions easy to root for: “I wanted to tell [Mom] that I’d never get over this. I’d never get over Dad dying and our having to sell our house, move hundreds of miles away, and start life over again. I wanted to tell her everything, but I saw the same thing in her face. She won’t get over it either.” Her confusion about her first panic attack in film class is another instance made palpable through her racing thoughts and feeling of suffocation. Dakota’s Christian faith is woven into her adventure seamlessly, rounding out her character in a balanced way and offering wisdom without being overly preachy. Her narrative voice is friendly and authentic, though some convoluted analogies make descriptions more confusing than intended. For instance, when she is trapped beneath a tree branch that falls on her, she says, “My lungs strained against the tree’s weight, like a weightlifter trying to max out with life-or-death hovering just above.”
Dakota’s mother, brother, and the other teen characters who fill out her world are full individuals whose inner struggles operate just outside of Dakota’s awareness and yet remain tangible. Her mother’s restrained tears when speaking about her deceased husband, as well as the mean girl’s tense expression when Dakota sees her arguing with her own mother, convey Dakota’s keen observational skills and sense of empathy for those who face similar feelings of isolation. Her love and active concern blossom over the course of the story as she grows from a lonely girl reeling from grief to a strong young woman who yearns to help others feel like a part of the community, too.
However, anti-transgender sentiments contradict the book’s message of empathy for others. When Dakota’s friend back in Michigan (to whom she writes letters) shares her negative opinion of a transgender girl joining her basketball team, the teenagers become “activists” who deny their new teammate’s identity and want her to stay on the boy’s team. Regardless of someone’s opinion about having trans people on certain athletic teams, it’s the fact that Dakota and Mary refuse to acknowledge that transgenderism is real that makes it clear that trans readers will not find compassion in this novel. The characters’ position on this issue is not mentioned outside the letters and texts that Dakota and Mary send each other, which aren’t many, but they’re enough to weaken the book’s message of empathy and inclusivity.
Otherwise, with a well-rounded main character whose perseverance through hardship inspires, SUDDENLY RURAL GIRL is a Christian young adult novel about friendship, faith, and community.
SUDDENLY RURAL GIRL by Dann and Kennedy Hurlbert stars a relatable, resilient young narrator whose ability to overcome hardship through faith and friendship is inspiring.
~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader