ages 8-10 chapter book.

Ten-year-old Anna Nickel’s worst nightmare has come to pass. Her father is moving the family from Colorado to Kansas so that her father can take over a church in his hometown. She likes her life, her house, her Sunday school teacher, and would prefer if her life didn’t rapidly change all of the sudden. But alas, Anna’s life in Colorado does get picked up and dropped right on top of Oakwood, Kansas, and there’s nothing she can do but adapt.

Anna Was Here by Jane Kurtz opens with our main character at her final Safety Club meeting where she has spent the year learning how to prepare and handle disasters of all kinds. Through Anna, Kurtz has created a coming of age tale filled with kid friendly pieces of advice, and lessons on family and forgiveness. As Anna struggles to understand the unfairness and unpredictability of disasters in her new town, lessons are geared toward trusting in God, and you can’t really go wrong there.