31. The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta

Audio read by Campbell Scott (who was terrific...)
Audio Renaissance Audiobook/St. Martin's Press, 2007
9 unabridged cds
10.5 hrs.
368 pgs.
Rating: 3.5

This story is told first by Ruth Ramsey, a divorced mother of two girls who teaches sex ed to 9th graders at the local high school. An evangelical church has come into town, and the school board has decided to implement an abstinence curriculum that Ruth must now teach. She's not at all happy about this, she wants to tell kids the truth without sugar-coating or outright lying.

The story is then taken over by Tim Mason, Ruth's fifth-grade daughter's soccer coach and born-again Christian. He lost his wife and his life by overdoing drugs and drinking and has been "saved" by Pastor Tim of the evangelical church, coerced into marrying a young Christian believer, and tries to do what the church tells him is "right", even though it seems to go against his deepest wants.

Then the story starts going back and forth as the two meet and are oddly drawn to each other. After a particularly exciting soccer game he gathers the girls and spontaneously leads them in prayer, which incites Ruth as well as Tim's ex-wife. At the same time, Ruth's two girls decide they want to attend church. It's roly-poly upside-down stuff, but works. I did a lot of eye-rolling, I must say, but couldn't wait to see the outcome.

The outcome. Okay. It was disappointing. Perotta disappointed me there. The story built, and built, and built some more, then BOOM....it ended. Yuck. But I totally enjoyed the first 8 discs. The ride to school flew by, and I sat outside as long as I could before going in so I could listen just a little more....

12. What Would Emma Do? - Eileen Cook

For: YA
Published 2009
307 pgs.
Rating: 4
Finished: Feb. 15, 2009 in Las Vegas

A trade paperback that never came out in hard cover, is copyrighted 2009 AND already in the Pima Library at the end of January? This, in itself, is an oddity.

Another oddity - this is the second book in a row - totally unintentionally - that is about fervent Christian-right teenagers being caught as hippocrites, followers, liars - with the still fairthful but honest, THINKING teen being the protagonist.

Emma lives in a small town, Wheaton, Indiana, middle of America's heartland, middle of America's dairy farms, and splat in the middle of the midwestern Bible belt. Pastor Evers leads his Trinity Evangelical flock wihich includes a high school, the setting for this story. Darci Evers, his popular daughter, is the antagonist. Emma's two best friends - one, Colin, a young man that she's known and trusted since she was two, and the other, Joann, who is kind and trustworthy and always there for her, are now, as seniors in high school, a couple. Emma's single mom moved them from Chicago back to her hometown when Emma was young. And lastly, Emma is a runner - is on the track team - is really, really good and hoping for a full scholarship to Northwestern, which is the only way she knows she'll get to leave this small town that she hates.

So. The stage is set for the story. Short chapters. The beginning of each is an italicized "talk" that Emma has with God. Clever and thoughtful and very, very, very funny.

All of a sudden the crowd of popular girls start fainting and having seizures (just like late 17th century Salem, though that is never mentioned), to cover up a drinking/drug party that Darci Evers attended. It goes up and down from there - quickly and with continued humor that I greatly enjoyed.

The ending was disappointing. Build up, build up, drop fast. Darn! Another twenty pages of the kind of action and talk that took place in the rest of the book would have made this a five for me.

10. Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature - Robin Brande

For: YA/7-10
Published: 2007
Rating: 4.5
Finished: Feb. 8, 2009
265 pgs.

This was a grabber from the start. Mena has been totally ostracized by her friends, her pastor, AND her parents- even kicked out of her church. We know that she has written some sort of letter that is has gotten her into this hot water - her pastor and many of her ex-friends' families are being sued big-time. We only slowly get the story, which begins on her first day of freshman year. Not only is she ignored by the friends she grew up with - she is bullied and pushed around and embarrassed. And what these "devout" Christian kids do in the name of Jesus and God -- here, in black and white, is a story for young adults about some right-wing religious fanatics vs. open-minded thinkers. And we're talking right-wingers that don't read or watch anything that hints of magic or sorcery (think Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings) and tithe heavily.

Throw in an intriguing, off-beat biology teacher that's about to begin a unit on evolution, a cute, brainy - and male - science lab partner, and a dozen black lab puppies, and you have a story of how one girl begins to fight back, keeping her love of God and the Bible evenly balanced with good sense and creative thinking. Mena become Bible Grrrrl - so she doesn't cop out on her ideals, but shows her humanity. This is definitely a thought-provoking story, and not one that I've seen tackled quite in this way. I liked it a lot.