Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
The First Hard Times
Doris Buchanan Smith · 1984
76/100
👍 Worth It
Doris Buchanan Smith was a pioneer in treating children's emotional realities honestly, and this ALA Notable book's handling of grief, a Vietnam-era missing father, and stepfamily adjustment still carries genuine weight. The 1983 publication date means some cultural framing is dated, but the emotional core remains authentic and therapeutically useful for middle-grade readers navigating real family pain.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: parental loss theme · grief and bereavement · stepfamily conflict · emotional intensity appropriate to middle-grade audience. We still scored it 76; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety80
Substance / usefulness76
Craft & writing74
Originality70
Evidence & accuracy80
Hype vs delivers72
Age-fit78
👁 Human-eye gut-check74
Penny’s verdict76
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