"Mom was right. It's hard to hate the people you pray for"
by Nancy Rue, Zonderkidz, 2002
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Target Audience: Girls 11-15
Subject: Praying for those who hurt you
Summary: Imagine starring in a love scene with your worst enemy. And being ordered by your teacher to do so. Pretty terrible huh? That's what Lily thinks. She's all for starring in a Shakespeare scene, ready to give 100% to it like she does everything. But having to co-star with Shad Shifferdecker is a recipe for disaster! He hates her! And he seems like he wants to be stupid! He can't even spell Shakespeare, let alone memorize lines from one of his plays! The teacher refuses to consider having anyone else do Shad's part. And if one of the two fails, the whole scene will be dropped. And to make matters worse, another enemy of Lily's - the popular girl of the school: Ashley, thinks she is "going out with" Shad and is extremely jealous of Lily. She is making all kinds of threats to get Lily to not do the scene. But Lily's really excited about doing this! How in the world will she get out of this mess?
Notes: With all the hate going on, Lily's mom encourages her to pray for those who hurt her. Lily's not sure that's so easy, but she does desire to do what Jesus wants, so she keeps trying it, even though it seems to get her nowhere. Shad is rude to her, Ashley is threatening her, and the other kids in the drama group are making fun of her. And even Reni is hurting her feelings right now. Yet, at the end of the book, the drama group, including Shad decides to stop making fun of Lily and seem to appreciate who she is. Reni has realized she was being rude and apologized. Of course Shad only comes halfway around, he's still pretty quick to want to rattle off an insult. And Ashley still hates her. However, the book ends with "Mom had been right. It was hard to hate people you prayed for", showing that the real change isn't in Shad, the drama group, Reni, or Ashley, but in Lily herself. The Lily series is a 12 book series about a young 12, then 13 year old girl trying to figure out what makes her unique. Her mom's an expert basketball coach, her dad lives in the land of English literature and has students begging to get into his classes at the university. Her brother Art is amazing at band, he's destined to get a scholarship for his music skills. Her younger brother Joe lives and breathes athletics. Lily can't figure out what her "thing" is. Each book has Lily going all out with a latest interest in an effort to determine who God wants her to be.
Recommendation Scale: 5
Reviewer: J:-)mi
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