The Adventures of Nick & Sam #3: The Best Advent Ever by Paul McCusker

BOOK SUMMARY

In the third book of the Adventures of Nick and Sam series, the Perry twins are celebrating Advent at school, at church, and with their family. The school Christmas pageant incites all kinds of drama: Sam and Kim both want to play Mary, Brad and Nick get into hijinks with a trampoline on stage, and a boy expresses romantic feelings for Sam. In addition to the drama around the play, adventures with animals including staring down a mountain lion and an ill-fated donkey ride feature in this story. The chapters follow along the calendar for the season of Advent and lead right into preparation for Midnight Mass on Christmas.

SERIES SUMMARY

Nicolas (Nick) and Samantha (Sam) Perry are twins in the Perry family. They moved with their parents, their brother Andrew, and their sister Lizzy, to Hope Springs in the summer. Hope Springs is a fictional town in the mountains of Colorado. This series presents the adventures of the twins, their family, their friends, and the people they encounter at school, church, and in town. This series presents Catholic culture easily and normally, and provides opportunities for readers to think about the consequences of words and actions. Some of the chapters early in the series appear in the Signs of Grace curriculum, and the Hope Springs universe expands out to McCusker's Blue Christmas, and will be featured in other stories to come. This series is written similarly to the Adventures in Odyssey series and the Magic Tree House series, and is recommended for readers ages seven and up, but can also be read by parents to younger children.