Wow, this book is absolutely wonderful, loving, brave, and eye opening, with beautifully painted scenes of the mountains and farms as a backdrop. Beyond the Green, by Sharlee Glenn, tells the tale of a family giving up its most prized possession, their youngest child. The story, told through the eyes of the middle child, Britta, an eleven year old Mormon girl living on a family farm in the Uintah Basin, Utah in the late 1970s, centers on the youngest child, Dori, who has been living with the family since she was five months old and is now four. Her biological mother, Irene, member fo the Uintah tribe has gotten sober and wants her child back. Britta spends most of the book devising plans on how to keep Dori from Irene as well as trying to work through her feelings about doing what she knows is right and her prejudices about certain individuals. While Britta is a stereotypical eleven year old with stereotypical eleven year old farm girl problems (not wanting to do chores, annoying siblings) her life is anything but.
Sharlee Glenn has captured all the emotions of the story so well and the author’s note explains why. This book touches a lot of different themes that can help expose readers to new topics: multi-racial families, foster care, the Indian Child Welfare Act, farming communities, Mormonism, and stereotypes that existed and continue to exist about Native Americans. I strongly recommend Beyond the Green for both children and adults.

When I finished this book I was pleasantly surprised that I really, really enjoyed it.
The story gave a soft 'Little House on the Prairie"-vibe for me because it was story narrated by a young protagonist in a setting from the past that incorporated real historical issues and drama, but told in a way that was easy to understand and flowed quite smoothly. I was even surprised when I read in the authors note that this book was based on the author's real life experience with her foster sister, which makes this all the more better and touching.
I also enjoyed the characters, even feisty Britta, who even I believe might've taken things too far at some points of the story (not just the running away part), but that's okay because she's still young and it adds to her character, which only continued to develop positively throughout the story. I also really enjoyed the family dynamic, from Britta's mother, her siblings (including little adorable Dori), and her awesome grandpa. It felt comfortably warm. Even the culture of the Ute tribe was great because it was introduced in such a way where it was easy to understand and was not overwhelming.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable read that had me shed a tear here and there.
I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone. :D

A beautiful, heartwarming story about the lengths families go to for each other, whether they're joined by blood or not. I loved the insight into Mormon life at the time, and the way our main character, Britta, grew and changed and came to realise that she needed to look at things from a different angle. I'm also glad no one was demonised over the course of the book; everyone had their chance to change for the better.

A lovely read, I'll be watching out for this author in future. Thank you netgalley and Charlesbridge for the chance to read it.

There are far too many stories of white people saying indigenous children, giving them a better life.

Indigenous children do not need to be rescued.

I was worried, when I started to read this book, though the description hinted otherwise, that this book would be like that. That Britta kept devising plans to save her foster-care sister from returing to her birth mom made me worried that perhaps this wasn't the story I hoped it was.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Britta, a Mormon child, feels that Dori would be better off with her family who had had her for the first four years of her life. She can't imagine that the Indians could take as good care of her "sister" as her family did.

But, as all good books do, this one allowed Britta to grow and change, and see things from another point of view.

And her wise grandpa had a great quote:

<blockquote>Differ'nt don't necessirly mean worse, Britta-girl," he said. "Sometimes it means better. Sometimes it just means differ'nt. And thank goodness for differ'nt. Too much sameness would make for a might bland world."</blockquote>

The author made this all feel very real, and very special, probably because it is a fictionalized version of her own foster sister, that was returned to her birth mother.

Odd, every day elements make it very real.

Highly recommend this for school libraries, public libraries, and just for good old-fashioned reading.

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