Besides being a rollicking good, fast-paced thriller, complete with a dead body, caves, a fire, plenty of guns, knives, kidnapping and escapes, The Booker Rebellion explores what it means to be a family in treacherous times. The three Booker children are left with a seemingly severe and uncaring aunt while their parents, Gulf War veterans, are fighting wild fires in Alaska. When threats arise, in the form of a wacky militia training camp in their own woods, they have to depend on each other and the lessons their parents have taught them.

It's two mints in one: The Booker Rebellion belongs on the YA shelf, for sure, but I read it voraciously, and my YA days are fifty years behind me. Intuitively written characters, including a small, beguiling child, three teens, a dog, and a cast of adults who are mostly bad to the bone, except for two aunts, a forest-loving curmudgeon, and a hard-edged but whimsical hippie with magical delusions. Most of the adults are certainly not who we think they are when we first meet them. Palmer applies a deft hand as she doles out their true (and hidden) motivations. Palmer certainly knows her setting, too, taking us deep into the wild Oregon coast range, and not letting us go until, literally, the last page.

I find many "fast reads" are devoid of the yummy stuff. They ask me to give up my interest in a well-written, well-paced, character-driven story in exchange for an exciting plot. Not this one: it weighs in on both scales. I'm hoping for a series with the Bookers. I'm definitely interested in what these engaging kids, and their family, do next.

THE BOOKER REBELLION
📚 Publishing November 20
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow, this one had me on the edge of my seat! The Booker Rebellion brought me right back to the adventurous stories I loved when I was younger—and I think kids, teens, and adults will all find something to enjoy here!
There is SO much happening in these Oregon woods. 🌲 Belinda, Jack, and Emmy are dealing with feuding neighbors, stumbling into an illegal growing operation, and facing dangers they never could have expected.
I absolutely loved the beautiful imagery of the Oregon forests. I could picture the trails and places the Booker children explored, and the descriptions of the fire and the devastation it caused were especially powerful. 🔥
The suspense kept me completely invested, and the multiple POVs added urgency and kept the story moving. I definitely wanted to keep turning the pages!
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this one early. All opinions are my own. 💛
📖 Add this one to your TBR if you love adventurous, suspenseful reads!

Author Susan Palmer gives readers a fast=paced, thrilling story filled with realistic and likeable characters in a gorgeous setting as a backdrop for deception and danger. The story is gripping, informative, and engaging, and the interplay between children and adults is believable and heartening.

In The Booker Rebellion, Belinda, younger brother Jack, and young sister Emmy are manning the home front while their parents are fighting the Alaskan wildfires. An aging aunt is there for supervision, but she seems to suck the life out of the home that was once so happy. When strange sounds of gunshots and engines begin in the nights and forest trees are cut down and damaged, Belinda and Jack rely on all the preparedness training their parents had drilled into them to start investigating, but their actions make them a target, and eventually Emmy, Aunt Louise, and a stray dog are pulled into the danger, and Belinda and Jack face not only the threats they know but the fear of not knowing whom to trust with everyone's lives on the line.

The three Booker children are authentic and likeable, true blends of strengths and flaws, and their resilience and courage make them heroes. Aunt Louise is both curmudgeon and hero as the story progresses, and the respect she builds with the kids is one of the best parts of the story.

Palmer has given us exactly the kind of story we need more of: courageous kids with obstacles to overcome, genuine adults who want to help but understand that kids can and need to work out some things on their own, and a gratifying ending that sends a powerful message that we are all stronger than we may realize and can do more than we give ourselves credit for.

Fifteen-year-old Belinda Booker is in charge of her younger siblings: 12-year-old Jack and 6-year old Emmy. Their parents, Clay and Mimi Booker, are members of the Oregon National Guard and in Alaska to fight wildfires. The children are in the care of their Aunt Louise, who prefers watching bad TV than watching the kids. Where they live—five miles from the nearest neighbor and 30 miles from the nearest town—the children have honed survival skills that make them tougher than other kids. It’s up to Belinda and her siblings to figure out the strange noises and the mystery of a dead body on the forest floor in the woods near their home before they become shooting targets themselves.

I actually enjoyed the book as the author doesn't reveal much right away, which made me keep wanting to turn the page, go on to the next chapter, before it starts unraveling. It is realistic fiction that is gripping, exciting, and different from what I usually read. The woods of Oregon are brought to life through the writer's descriptions and the characters who are fully immersed in it, not just because the dead body they find is in it, but also because the woods are their home, too,.

Though it is a book written for the teen set, I must say that it is probably for the more mature teen because there is violence, mentions of marijuana, and some cuss words used in the story. There is no drug use in the story, though.

Overall, as an adult, I still enjoyed the story and maybe without the bad words, I would recommend it to a younger audience.

The Booker children know how to take care of themselves since their parents are always gone.

Their resourcefulness is attributed to their parents, and they definitely needed “smarts” when they find a body and a threatening gang comes onto their property.

THE BOOKER REBELLION is intense and fast paced with great descriptions and characters.

If you enjoy strong, well developed characters and a great storyline, you won't want to miss this book.

You will love Belinda, Jack, and Emmy as they work at getting away from the gang and don’t know who to trust.

A very enjoyable read. 5/5