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Thick as Thieves Synopsis
Andrea Carter is a 14 year old girl growing up in California in the 1880s. She and her brothers and sister live on a ranch with their mother. (Their father passed away.)
At the beginning of the story, Andi’s horse, Taffy, is expecting a baby. Danger increases when Andi finds out her horse is delivering twins. Thanks to her brother’s help, the twins are delivered safely and Taffy is healthy.
Meanwhile, Andi is facing challenges at school when a new girl, Macy, shows up and ends up being Andi’s seat mate. Macy is rough and tumble and definitely from the wrong side of the tracks. Andi desperately wants to be moved to a different seat, but her teacher refuses.
No one is more surprised than Andi when she actually becomes friends with Macy. However, that’s when the real adventure begins.
More about Thick as Thieves
Susan K. Marlow has written many Christian books about Andrea Carter.
- For children ages 6 to 9, she has written Circle C Beginnings about six year old Andi. There are six books in this series.
- For children ages 9 to 14, she has written Circle C Adventures about 12 year old Andi. There are also six books in this series.
- For children ages 12+, she has written Circle C Milestones. Thick as Thieves is the first book in this series. The second book, Heartbreak Trail, is expected to be released in July, 2015.
While Thick as Thieves seems to be targeting girls with the female lead, my son, who is 10.5 years old, loved the story. Thanks to the details about ranching and cattle rustlers as well as the presence of Andi and Macy’s brothers, this book will likely appeal to boys, too. (However, FYI, there is another series by Marlow, Goldtown Adventures, for boys ages 8 to 12.)
Thick as Thieves (and Marlow’s other books) also has a religious component, though it is in no way overbearing or awkward. Rather, Andi frequently prays when she’s in danger, when she’s worried, or when she’s trying to behave in a more Christian, charitable way.
How We Used the Book
Even though we hadn’t read any of the books about Andrea Carter before, this book stood on its on. Occasionally there was a mention of another adventure Andi had experienced in another book, but that just piqued our interest about the other books and didn’t detract from the story or confuse us.
Rather than reading this book simply for entertainment, I wanted to incorporate it as part of Bookworm’s homeschool curriculum, so I chose to have him also use the free downloadable study guide.
Each section of the study guide covered approximately four chapters, so we read together two chapters a day for two days in a row. Then, Bookworm used days three and four to complete the study guide.
The study guide wasn’t simply busy work. There was additional information related to topics covered in the book such as foaling, training a foal, lice, cattle rustling, dime novels, and The Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In addition, there were many language arts activities including vocabulary and grammar. Students identify and learn idioms, synonyms and antonyms, and parts of speech. All activities naturally relate to the book. Students also had to answer short answer questions about the story.
Both Bookworm and I thoroughly enjoyed Thick as Thieves. The book is $9.99 plus $2.50 shipping and handling. Considering that it also comes with a free, valuable study guide, I would not hesitate to add the next Circle C Milestones book into our homeschool curriculum.
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I really enjoyed your review, and thanks for the shout-out for the other books too. 🙂
That’s pretty cool! I love when stories have a bunch of other books to go along with it. It looks like we can grow with this book. How fun!