The Paper Boat is the third book in a series about 13 year old children who are stolen from their homes. They are hidden in a castle and help to keep it running from behind the scenes. It seems that at least one of them is the kings lost child. The story develops in Paper Boat and we learn that all is not as was thought. Is the first queen really dead and who killed the second queen? Will Avery find the answers she seeks and her little brother?
It is a nice series. I think the books could have been combined to make one long book because none were very long. Each picked up directly after the other ended. I enjoyed it, but the cost of the paperbacks and even the ebooks are too high for me to purchase them. Glad I got the chance to read them via Netgalley.

Avery and her friends, now hidden in the secret tunnels under the castle, continue to uncover secrets and thwart plots, some of which they started. And the question always comes back to this: Who is the king's heir? They discovered the king's son, but the portrait of the queen after her birth showed twins. Is it possible there is a daughter ... Avery? Kate?

The Paper Boat is the intriguing conclusion to the Thirteen Series. It is first and foremost a mystery. It is short and easy to read, fitting the middlegrade age group. As in the previous books, the story moves quickly from one situation to the next, the characters barely blinking in adjustment. The quickness wasn't something I liked, but it worked well for the story.

The question is asked: Is it actually good to be a princess? There are constant plots to dethrone and kill the king, queen, and the royal children. Who wants to live that way, always looking over one's back and not trusting anyone? Sure, the luxury is great, but there is a lot of responsibility accompanying it. Some of the responsibility can be used to help others, a possible redeeming factor. But if given a choice to be a princess or an ordinary girl in a loving family, what is the best decision?

The story also explores what it means to be family. What if your parents aren't actually your birth parents? Can a group of friends be family too? These and other questions are touched on through the experiences and actions of the characters.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it as an appropriate, Christian, middlegrade fantasy.

I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

In the book The Paper Boat, authors Trisha Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins continue following Avery who is on a strange journey at the age of 13 trying to find her brother and family.
The authors do a great job of moving the story along and keep you guessing until the end with many twists and turns in the story.
I would highly recommend this book for any reader even though I did not care for the ending of the book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a continuation of the series Thirteen: in order to understand the characters and the plot, it would be helpful to read "The Glass Castle and Ruby Moon."
Avery, one of the Thirteen year olds knows a secret about the King, but she is jailed before she can tell him what it is.
She escapes the prison, and she warns him about an invasion against his kingdom by thirteen year olds. The King believes her and she asks for her three year old brother Henry to be released as payment for telling him about the invasion. One of these 13 year olds is the Kings' heir and Avery reminds him of this fact.
Avery has a special locket with the Queen and the King's heir in it, which she shows to the King. He declares that she is the heir and he makes her the princess but she does not feel love for the King or feel as if she belongs in the palace.
You will have to read the book for yourself to see what Avery's secret is, if she is the heir, and what happens to the thirteen year old invaders.

Can't wait for the next one! This was even better than the first (The Glass Castle). Intriguing plot and characters. Can't wait to share with my students.

I am giving this three stars because I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt that perhaps the other two books that proceeded it, which I didn't read, were great world-building, adventurous, spell-binding, rivioting stories of daring do, and the protagonist was not obsessed with her hair and dress, because that is the opposite of what I read in this last book in the series.

Avery has been thrown in prison, and has news for the king, but he thinks she is his long lost daughter, and welcomes her home. Is she? Is she not? You would think there would be some suspense there, but there isn't, really, and who cares either way. I kept thinking there was going to be a great reveal. That she would solve all the problems, presented in this book, such as the evil counselor, but instead she just goes and reads her bible.

That was the problem I had with the book. Because there was no world building, sat least by the time the third book came around, I could not figure out where this was supposed to be happening. It appeared to be a fantasy world, but then there was the Bible that she read when she was feeling frustrated, or the reference to the Olympics.

So, it is an ok middle school book, and a quick read, but it is so convoluted that I found I couldn't really enjoy it. As I said, I've given it three stars because perhaps all that is covered in earlier books, but true sequels should work even without having read the earlier books.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review

Paper Boat is book 3 in the Thirteen Series by Trisha Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins. It my opinion, you should read all three books in order as I don’t think this works well as a stand alone book. So much has happened that the clues here and there as to what has passed would not be enough to fully understand everything that has happened before this one.

The book moves quickly and because of the continuing circumstances it is very hard to put down. I’ve come to really like some of the characters; the authors do a very nice job of showing the kind of people they are. There are a few bad guys, and ones that are so wrapped up in in fulfilling their own agendas, they really don’t take the time to look around them to other people. There were surprises along the way as well as unexpected twists and turns. I found the ending quite surprising, and I hope the authors pick up where this one left off. While I think, for the most part, everything is wrapped up, there is definitely material here, for more books.

If you are looking for a good Christian series I highly recommend this one. I am an adult, and I have enjoyed all the books in the series so far. While this is listed as a book for teenagers, I feel younger children would like the story.

I decided to read this after reading books with almost same genre. I need to read other genre for there will be no bias or comparisons in the future. This is totally different genre because it is a Children's Fiction. I don't know but I recently enjoyed reading books in that genre.

I requested this book in NetGalley because it piqued my curiosity. But I am not aware that this book is part of the book series Thirteen and this is last installment. I know I'm such an ignoramus! And I would like to apologize for that. As I was reading, I have so many questions as I could not keep up with the story. But it now made sense and I have to read the The Glass Castle (Thirteen #1) and The Ruby Moon (Thirteen #2) after reading book 3 because I have a feeling that the answers to my questions are in book 1 and book 2.

Anyway, each part of this book is exciting! From the moment Avery was captured to the moment that the King requested her presence! Especially when she risked her life to the dungeon.

I think the book is in fast pacing, but maybe I just feel it that way because it's the last part of the book. This is also an east to read book

Some twists are shocking! Yes, I am shock and did not expect those coming. But I don't know maybe I can anticipate those things if only I read book 1 and 2 before this.

This book is about betrayal, trust, courage and strong-willed. At thirteen years old, Avery acts and thinks like an adult. She's intelligent and will do anything for her family.

Well, I do not know what to feel about how the end goes. Really. I was not sure what to feel about the ending. But I do commend Ms. Trisha White Priebe and Jerry B. Jenkins for a unique plot and how they writes this book.