Book Review: Biff and Becka's Stupendous Vacation

As a trained elementary school teacher, homeschool mom, and mother to an avid reader who is just entering the world of chapter books; I was eager to review a faith based youth fiction book from WestBow press through booksneeze.com.  I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Biff and Becka are brother and sister rabbits who have a loving family rooted in their faith in God.  This book follows the family as the father receives a pay cut and the yearly family vacation to the beach was changed to a 'stay-cation' adventure at home.  The stories follow challenges and adventures with faith at the center of the learning and resolutions.

I wanted to love this book, but I found myself struggling to enjoy it.  While I appreciate the loving family portrayed in the book and the way spiritual elements are woven in, I found that the book was simply too wordy and long.  The first couple of chapters would have pages of dialogue that in of themselves would be a stand alone story.  It took so long to get to the next part of the storyline that I lost passion for reading it.  It would read much better as a collection of short stories without the burden of cohesiveness.  I also found myself stumbling over character names and the fact that they were rabbits.  The names did not flow with the characters or story.  The idea of them being rabbits instead of people just made the book more cumbersome than necessary in my opinion and did not add value to the storyline.

I will hang onto the novel and do a read aloud with my oldest in the next year or so.  The book has potential, but it may heavily depend on the reader's interest and patience level.