High Hurdles by Lauraine SnellingtEven though everyone’s life story is different, they are all unique in some way or another. In Lauraine Snelling’s fictional story, High Hurdles, DJ’s life is nothing but chaos and struggles. DJ has a passion for horses; she works at a horse academy with her best friend, Amy, competes in contests, teaches a small group of students, and dreams to ride Equestrian in the Olympics. In addition to all of this, school, and trying to rescue her relationship between her and her divorced mother, Lindy, DJ learns to trust in God with the help of her grandmother, Gran who lives with her. It all starts when Gran moves out of the house because she is getting married. DJ is scared because living with only her mother could be a catastrophe. It is a hurdle that would take a long time to get over. Secondly, she struggles with her mom’s engagement. Shortly after Gran gets married Lindy gets engaged to a man who is a stranger to DJ. What bothers her most about him is he has twin boys that are constantly annoying her, and now she will have to live with them. On top of all of this DJ also faces work and school. She works almost every day and has hardly any time to do homework, and often gets in trouble for falling asleep in class. With these problems that seem never-ending, there is one more major problem that evolves: her dad. DJ’s father left Lindy before DJ was born, and never contacted her. She was hurt, and wanted nothing to do with him, especially now that he had a wife. One day she received an unexpected call from him and the day that DJ hoped would never come did. DJ’s dad was coming to her house, and she was certain it would be a disaster. With this she learned even more just how important it is to pray and rely on God. tThe author’s purpose in writing this was to show how even though there are a lot of challenges in life, we can trust in God to get us through. She wanted to creatively show through her book how there is help we can go to when difficult circumstances occur. tLauraine Snelling’s dialogue in High Hurdles was excellent. The way she worded the conversations made the reader feel as if they were actually there, witnessing the situation. tThe type of person who would enjoy this book the most is a horse lover. It is not just about horses, though. Any Christian girl would also find High Hurdles a great book.
Do You like book High Hurdles, Collection One (2011)?
