*Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Heartwarming. Charming. Descriptive.
Relatable.
If any of those things sound like characteristics you’d love in a story, you might want to add Across the Pond (Amazon Affiliate Link) by Joy McCullough to your reading list.
Across the Pond is the story of a girl named Callie.
Like many readers, young and old, Callie is struggling to find her place and her people in the world. Her family’s move from San Diego to a castle in Scotland gives her a true chance to start over.
But as it turns out, even in a new place and surrounded by new people, Callie still isn’t sure where she belongs. Life in a castle isn’t as magical as she expects, and her first interactions with kids her age leave her not wanting to go back to school at all.
Callie convinces her parents to homeschool her—on the condition that she has to participate in something social with kids her age. But when she joins the local birding club, things don’t go as expected.
The big question is: will Callie ever find a place to belong?
Callie’s struggle in this story is so easy to resonate with. Haven’t we all struggled to find our place and our people? Haven’t we all wondered what it means to truly feel at home? Haven’t we wrestled with what it means to make a new friend when you’re not in kindergarten anymore, and you can’t just go up to a stranger and ask, “Will you be my friend?”
In reading Across the Pond, I am reminded that wherever we go, we are not alone.
Our Creator is with us. He knows the path we will take. He knows our deepest emotions. And the world is filled with opportunities—and with people who just might become important parts of our lives, even when it feels unlikely.
At the beginning of the story, Callie feels unknown and unsure of who she really is. But by the time you turn that last page, you’ll discover that friendship can reside in the most unexpected places.
The link below is an affiliate link for Amazon, which helps support me in creating more posts like this one!
And never forget… you are wonderfully created.
Love,
Becca
