"Katy's New World"
by Kim Vogel Sawyer
Source: Goodreads First Reads contest, sent from Zondervan Books
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
My Review:
Katy is the only teenager in her Mennonite community who wants to extend her education past the required 9th grade. She is given special permission to attend the public high school, but will she be able to keep her faith while exposed daily to "worldly" things and experiences? Katy's mother left the Mennonite faith when she was little, and that meant she left Katy and her father too. Katy worries that by being exposed to "worldly" things, she'll follow in her mother's footsteps, hurting her father and grandparents.
"Katy's New World" is a great story for young teens. Katy is high school, but this book is geared more to younger teens and tweens and their issues. At first, I was skeptical about this one because it seemed a little cliche, but once the characters were developed, I was really drawn in. Katy's relationships with her old friends, her new friends from her new school, and her father are carefully written and realistic.
At her new school, Katy realizes that not all "worldly" things are bad. She quickly makes friends with Shelby, the daughter of a preacher. Sometimes, Shelby proves to be a better friend to Katy than her friends from the Mennonite community. Katy struggles trying to balance her two worlds, and the result is that she feels like an outsider both at school and in her community.
Katy overcame challenges to her faith and she does make mistakes. However, she learns from her mis-steps and in result she makes a choice, a decision, instead of blindly following along with what she is told to do.
Main Characters: 4/5
Supporting Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Romance: n/a
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 2/5 (not really a fan of this cover)
Writing: 3.5/5
Bottom Line: This was a great book for tweens, with rich characters and honest feelings about fitting in that all young people feel.
I read this, it was cute but I like Kim's "grown-up" novels better! Thank you for sharing your review!
ReplyDeleteXOXO~ Renee
The cover gave me a laugh- I'm glad to hear it's aimed at preteens or it might have been too comic. Looks cute, like the sort of thing I would have picked up at that age.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Renee! I haven't read anything else by this author, but she was a great writer so I can see how her adult books would be good :)
ReplyDeleteDL, I'm not a fan of the cover either! But you're right, it does look like something a preteen would want to pick up :)
I think I might like this I am going to add it to my TBR pile great review :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Caitlin! I hope you like it!!
ReplyDeleteNice review. I would have loved this when I was a young teen.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christina!! I think it would be great for that age group :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome. Reminds me of this movie I saw and loved called "Saving Sarah Cain".
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my review, Juju!! I've seen that book before and remember seeing previews for the movie! Maybe I'll check it out!
ReplyDeleteI'm chiming in late. Found you through the blog hop. I just read your review and wanted to let you know I immediately requested this book from my library! So thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting from the blog hop, Lynette!! You're very welcome and I hope you enjoy this book!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found me at the Hop! I look foward to checking out your reviews.
ReplyDeleteYou have become a cherry on top of my sundae.
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