Review: Channing O'Banning and the Turquoise Trail by Angela Spady

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

A dinosaur dig and a search for a lost ring will take readers ages 6–10 on a hilarious adventure with spunky 4th grade artist Channing O’Banning!
Fourth-grader Channing O’Banning always has a colored pencil stuck in her hair. A girl who prefers her sketch book to her math book—or any book, for that matter—budding artist Channing is the star of this new chapter book series. With parents who think she’s from Mars, an annoying older sister who acts like Queen of the World, and a surprisingly cool Nana, Channing navigates the fourth grade in hilarious stories every kid can relate to. For fans of Judy Moody or Junie B. Jones, Channing O’Banning’s antics will be familiar and welcome—and parents will love that Channing always learns a biblically based lesson.
Channing O’Banning has had enough of school. Best friends (and super nerds) Cooper and Maddy are really into their studies on the American Southwest, but Chan can’t see what a bunch of boring rocks and dusty deserts have to do withher. When Nana lets Channing borrow her super-cool Navajo turquoise ring, Channing is over the moon—until she loses the ring. As Chan searches for Nana’s ring, hilarious antics ensue, but in the midst of the craziness, Channing learns a new perspective on history, friendship, and, especially, the importance of responsibility.

MY TAKE:
If you're looking for a feel-good educational story, you might like this one.

In Channing O'Banning and the Turquoise Trail, Channing becomes interested in her Native American studies after seeing a turquoise rock in class and her Nana gives her a turquoise ring. However, she ends up losing the ring. Thankfully, she may be able to put things right thanks to an unexpected invitation from a relative she has never met.

I love it when books have a good story and are also able to teach readers something. This book is like that. It actually feels like two stories at once, because the first part is more about dinosaurs and Channing, Maddy and Cooper's quest to unearth something that they had found while playing in their school playground. The second half, though, is more about Native American culture, which I thought was very interesting.

There's plenty of information about Native American culture, not just within the story but at the end of the book as well. Aside from teaching about dinosaurs and Native American culture, the story also teaches kids about friendship, honesty, and taking care of your things.

Channing is much like a lot of girls, chatty, cheerful and likes artistic stuff. She's also easily bored in class and she likes talking with her friends during class. I like Cooper more than Maddy, but both of Channing's friends seem nice.

I think this series has a lot of potential, and I'm interested in reading more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the e-ARC. Publication date of Channing O'Banning and the Turquoise Trail is on May 5, 2015.

THE GOOD:

1. It teaches kids about Native American culture.
2. It has positive messages.
3. Lot of kids will be able to relate to Channing. 

THE BAD:

1. I would have loved to have more information about Native American culture.   

READ IT IF:

1. If your child likes drawing and anything artistic.
2. You want your kids to read books with positive messages.
3. Your child likes learning about new cultures. 

RATING:


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