Fearless: A Middle Grade Adventure Story

Fearless: A Middle Grade Novel of Friendship, Family, and a Brave Dog Rescue
Adjusting to a new town is hard enough. Doing it while your mom is deployed overseas feels impossible.

When Jessie Nelson and her dad move to a small town in southern Minnesota, everything feels foreign. Loneliness starts to fade when she bonds with Nicky, a theater-loving classmate, and Oscar, a new friend who truly understands the anxiety of having family serving in the military far from home.

But their quiet lives take a dramatic turn when the three friends stumble upon an illegal puppy mill hidden in a secluded barn. Faced with a heartbreaking situation, Jessie makes a daring choice: she secretly rescues one of the distressed dogs, determined to make a difference.

Keeping an anxious dog hidden from her dad and grandpa is no easy feat. As Jessie navigates the heavy responsibility of caring for her new four-legged friend, she must also lean on her friends to face her deepest anxieties about her mother's safety overseas.

Fearless is a heartwarming middle grade adventure about the quiet bravery found in everyday moments, the healing power of compassion, and the bond between children and animals. Perfect for fans of realistic contemporary fiction, social-emotional learning (SEL) stories, and uplifting animal adventures.

Key Features

• Award-Winning Fiction: Recognized by the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) Awards.
• Military Family Representation: Honestly explores the emotional realities of parental deployment, separation, and family adjustment.
• Compassion & Animal Rescue: Features a compelling plot centered around animal welfare, teaching responsibility and taking action against injustice.
• Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Excellent classroom or family reading choice for discussions on empathy, anxiety, and finding courage.
• Bilingual Edition Available: Also available in Spanish as El secreto de Cross Kennel, making it a perfect fit for dual-immersion schools.

Readers will root for Jessie, an eleven-year-old strong, spunky female main character who is an animal lover, so much so that she steals a dog from a puppy mill to save its life. She is a good kid from a military family whose mom is deployed. She loves her dad and grandpa but misses her mom. She must navigate complex feelings and struggles with doing what’s right without her mom being around to lean on.

Readers say this story has heart and realistic depictions of what it’s like to cope with parental absence and change when a military family member is deployed. Readers have said this book is a tear-jerker. The story shows how friendship and helping others may give kids purpose and focus to get them through challenging life circumstances.

Kristin F. Johnson is a former elementary school media specialist. She also taught creative and technical writing as an adjunct for twelve years. She was born and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, with a business degree. Kristin has won two Minnesota State Arts Board artist initiative grants.For two years, Kristin was a radio host for KFAI's Write On! Radio program. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family and their rescue dog, a mixed breed who is mostly half Black Labrador and half Australian Shepherd. Fearless is Kristin's tenth book for kids. Learn more about her at www.kfjbooks.com.