I identified....not sure if everyone will

I read Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande as an e-book using Overdrive, and I was drawn to it simply because of the title.  Without drawing out my life growing up, I was raised in an Evangelical Christian Church.  I am quite familiar with both the comfort of being "right" and the realization that right isn't so black and white.   Mena's journey spoke to me.

Mena's whole life has changed because she did the right thing.  Now her former friends, including the boy she liked, have ostracized her and started a campaign to humiliate her.  To make it worse, her parents are mad as well because her actions impacted their business.  Mena was raised in an Evangelical Church and this all started when she spoke up about bullying behavior their youth group started against a junior high student that was gay.  Now, her whole view on the world has been opened, but, can she survive being the outcast?  And, does she have the courage to support a teacher that is the newest target of the church for teaching evolution in science?  Of course, she can't even think about liking her lab partner....or, can she?

Before you think this is a faith-bashing book, and part of what makes it more thought-provoking is that the teacher who teaches evolution turns out to also be a person of faith.  There is respect for religion in this story.

 

Because I was raised in an Evangelical Church, I understand the culture and the pressure.  I wonder if it would be as meaningful to someone without that background.  If you read it, let me know!

 

Surprising!

I read Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead, Newbery Award winning author of When You Reach Me.  I LOVED When You Reach Me and First Light and wasn't sure I would like Liar and Spy as it seems a different genre.  Without going into too much detail about other books, they fit in with my first love which is of  Sci Fi/Fantasy.  This book does not...no lost civilizations or time travel or wizards.  Boring......

...and yet.  

This book was absolutely compelling!  Rebecca Stead has a talent for taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary, and for adding surprising twists.

Georges (the S is silent) is not having the best year.  His best friend has simply abandoned him for the cool table, his dad was laid off, his mom is working way too many doubles, and they have to leave the house he loves to move to an apartment.  Then he meets Safer, a home-schooled boy that lives in his new building.  Safer is sure the mysterious Mr X is up to something terrible and needs Georges's help to prove it.  In an understated way this book tackles huge issues such as trust, bullying, and belonging.  Just as there is more to Mr X, there is more than meets the eye with everyone in this story.  

I found it funny, touching, and entertaining, even for this lover of all things fantasy!