Becoming Me

Oh, God, help me to figure this all out. And help me to be true to You. I love You, God. I want to choose You above all else. But I might need some help. Amen.

Book: Diary of a Teenage Girl Series, Caitlin #1: Becoming Me by Melody Carlson, Multnomah Publishers, 2000

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 13-19

Subjects: Dating Relationships, Sex, Family Relationships, Salvation, Friendship, Teen Pregnancy

Summary: A ton of help is more like it! How any 16 year old can navigate through the turbulent waters of dating, friendships, popularity, fashion, finding a job, parents who still treat you the same as your little brother and this thing called faith, is beyond Caitlin O’Connor! Sweet sixteen is supposed to be exactly that: sweet. And yet here she is on New Year’s Eve just at home writing in her diary while her friends are out having a good time. As the next semester of school begins she finds herself suddenly accepted by the popular crowd – which of course comes at the price of her friendship with the girl she has been friends with since elementary school. Keeping up with them also involves dressing just right, talking just right, and playing the dating game. Do you continue to go out with a boy you don’t like that much just to have a date to the dance? What do you do when your friend’s boyfriend starts acting like he likes you? What should you think about sex? And if all of this isn’t enough, her dad decides he’s interested in having an affair – which of course threatens to completely destroy their family! How on earth is she supposed to deal with all of this? Where can she find answers? And when the unthinkable tragedy happens, where can she find hope?

Notes: Becoming me is the first in the Diary Of A Teenage Girl – Caitlin series. There are 4 separate series in the Diary Of A Teenage Girl sets. This one tells the story of a girl growing up in a semi-Christian, at least religious, home. It starts her story right in the middle of high school and leads her through quite a few challenging situations. Through the course of the book Caitlin finds out more about Jesus Christ and is able to put her trust in Him for salvation. She also makes some decisions about not having sex before marriage and not dating. She faces quite a few temptations before she makes these decisions and other characters in the book completely give in to the temptations to have sex with their boyfriends. It shows the importance of listening to Christ and following what convictions He leads you to. It shows the value of true friendship as opposed to trying to become someone else just to be accepted. It shows the importance of parents setting godly examples – Caitlin wants nothing to do with Christianity when her supposedly good Christian dad wants to have an affair. Most of all it just shows an ordinary teenage girl facing things that many many many other teenage girls face and shows how she learns to turn to Christ to figure out how to deal with them. I highly recommend the five books in the Caitlin set of the series.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Deuteronomy 13:4 – It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.