Wedding Day

Wedding Day
Enjoy EVERY moment in your wedding gown. You can't stay in it forever...SO UNFAIR!!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Review - It's A Green Thing: Diary of a Teenage Girl By Melody Carlson

My Review: Although I got in on this series in book two, I still found it to be enjoyable. There was a little background I would have liked, but the main points were filled in for me.

Maya is a teenage girl who longs for a "normal" life. I imagine it would be odd to think that anyone would want a normal life rather than be the daughter of a music idol, but when that part of your life also had you attached to an addict mother...normal might sound pretty good.

Maya is a new Christian and is fortunate to have a mentor named Caitlin who Maya can turn to with her questions. I loved this for many reasons. I think all new Christians should have a mentor for those questions that pop up. Weekly meetings with someone who can kind of direct you to the right scriptures and just be an ear to your struggles rocks. I wish I had that as a teen. Caitlin's advise seems to be very spot on.

The only thing that felt wrong to me was when Maya discussed Amanda and Brooke, two Christian girls who helped out doing a mural project. There were things that the girls said that offended Maya. Caitlin at one point told her that "Sometimes it seems that the Christians with the smallest faith have the biggest mouths." I objected to this in my mind as an adult. Because although I knew girls who talked a lot like Amanda and Brooke when I was a teen, I also know that they did have great faith, they just did not have the social skills to know how and when to discuss their faith. They were children who just plain did not have the skills to share. I had a neighbor who was a wonderful and giving Christian, but she had no tact whatsoever. Even though the statement said "it seems," it came across to me as very blanket. I do know that there is truth in that statement as well...it just left me conflicted when thinking of a teen who could read this and get a message that they couldn't fully understand.

Enough of that, really it was a small thing. It was nice seeing Maya develop in her faith. She also had a relationship that she was coming to terms with, and I am really glad that we got to see her conflict with getting too physical with Dominic. Melody Carlson really seemed to depict a lot of the confusion that goes on. It feels great at first, but afterward you are filled with questions and often awkward silence.

There are so many wonderful parts to this story, and one of the last I'll touch on was Maya's green tips. They were great! We are very environmentally conscious at my home, and I think it is awesome to have a book that can support that to a reader!

All in all, I really quite liked this book! I cannot wait to read more about Maya and get into the other books in the Diary of a Teenage Girl series.




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