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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

What I Like & Don’t Like about These Books

by Chautona Havig · 2 Comments

Being Zoey is a new, middle-grade series from Melody Carlson about the age-old problems of fitting in and bullying brought into the 21st century. via @chautonahavig

When you’re ten, eleven, and twelve, and an indiscriminate reader, you read a lot of junk. My book selection methods were pretty simple in those days. I’d go to the library, find a turnstile, and flip through every book on it. If I hadn’t read it already, it came off the turnstile and into my arms. Twenty books later, I left for another week (during the summer) or two (during the school year).

Those books had a wide variety of plots and themes, but every lot had at least one book about feeling like you don’t fit in and another about some kind of bullying. I rarely liked them, but I read them anyway.

Look, I was always the new kid. I never fit in. Add to that that I was usually the “poor” kid in a school full of doctors’, dentists’, and lawyers’ kids, and yeah. I got a lot of nastiness. You’d think I’d have related to the books, but I always saw them as overly simplistic.  Wrapped up too easily. The same story with different settings and names.

Back then, if you’d have told me that someone could send mean notes to a bunch of people all at once—could easily pretend to be someone else and hide it well—I’d have laughed. The concept of the Internet and cellphones that weren’t the size of a flat iron (something no 80s girl would have touched) were beyond our comprehension.

Still, at the core, somethings have never changed.

Tween and teen girls still want to be accepted—be popular. I never got that, because I didn’t consider it real popularity if it was just you molding yourself to be what someone else wanted you to be. What can I say? I was one of those too old for my years kids.

I watched it when I was a kid, and I’ve even seen it recently in the local homeschool group. Kids who think they are friends with one kid will discover that since they enter high school a year later, some of their friends no longer consider them “cool enough” to associate with.

Yeah. It’s a thing. Parents are often blind to it, too.

Some parents have this erroneous idea that if they keep their kids away from those horrible public schools, selfish sinfulness just magically disappears. Sorry. Not a thing. Unless you teach your kids how to treat people and monitor their behavior, they won’t just magically be kind because their school co-op has “Christian” in the name. Sorry to burst that bubble.

Maybe that’s why I decided to review a couple of new books by Melody Carlson—Being Zoey.

What I Like & Don't Like about The being zoey Books

Note: Links are likely affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

What I Like & Don’t Like about These Books

I’m going to do a quasi quick and dirty review because I’ve got two books and not a lot of time.

Meet the Misfits:

One of the best things about this book is how Melody Carlson didn’t wrap Zoey into a stereotypical tween and slap her on the pages of the book. Zoey has a distinctive and relatable personality. She’s just quirky enough to be interesting and normal enough to be realistic. As a kid who moved and was the new girl all the time, I got her frustration with being ripped out of her life and plunked down elsewhere.

That said, some of the phrasing was rather odd for a kid that age. I’ve not heard many kids that age calling people “whackadoodles” or talking about their “hind end.” I’m not saying none do it. I know I’ve even heard “whackadoodle” on one of those tween shows on TV. But the context there felt like it wasn’t common speech as much as that kid’s quirk. So, tweens might be turned off if it feels “out of date.” I don’t know. I’m not up on hip speech (hence, the use of the word hip—which wasn’t even a thing when I was a kid!).

I loved that Carlson tried to take the age-old issues and bring them into the 21st century and yet still show it’s the same root core—kids really good at hiding their sinful hearts and working their hardest to making others as miserable as they are.

I didn’t do a lot of laughing or any crying in the book, but I didn’t rush to put it down, either. Yes, I read fast. No, I didn’t pay close attention to every word. Then again, I’m not the author’s target market.

Would my almost fifteen-year-old like it? No. But then, she’s not the target market, either. Would my eleven-year-old granddaughter like it… maybe. Maybe. We’ll see if she decides to read or not.

Odd Girl Out:

Like the first book in this series, this book deals with feeling out of your element, trying to fit in, bullying, and pushes into new territory with identity theft.

This one actually felt more realistic to me. I think because Carlson managed to create and maintain a sense of foreboding through the whole thing. You know everything isn’t right. I found myself wanting to tell Zoey to just walk away.

A few things were a little contrived and convenient, but I think it was kind of necessary. I mean, these books have a point to them. The adults in your life are going to make mistakes, but they are there to help. You just have to give them a chance.

Carlson managed to do that without preaching that point. That said, few kids would develop the spiritual maturity that Zoey does as quickly as she does. It’s realistic for her, but I’m not sure kids would see that nuance.

All in all, the Being Zoey books infuse faith elements and topics that I think a lot of kids would relate to. I just don’t know who I’d recommend them for.

On the other hand, thanks to a couple of free review copies of the Being Zoey series, I got a nice walk through my childhood fictional fare and a reminder of why I don’t miss that part of school.

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Comments

  1. Nancy Holte says

    September 5, 2019 at 7:39 pm

    Thanks for the great and thoughtful review.

    Reply
  2. Rachel Dodson says

    September 5, 2019 at 7:22 am

    Great review as always. Im excited to read these and share with my daughter.

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 217: A Chat with Biblical Fiction Author, Terry Garner
byChautona Havig

Terry Garner joined me tonight to chat about his fascinating Biblical Fiction series, Magi Journey. Starting way back in Assyria, through Babylon, and into Persia, the series chronicles two timelines–first that of the Israelite kings, and then of a fascinating family back in Persia… Listen in to see the hope this Magi family found in Scripture and how it led them to Bethlehem. 

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

This isn’t just another “traveling to Bethlehem with gold” story of the Magi. No, Terry Garner links the Israelite kings from Ahaz through the destruction of the temple and into captivity with a family who discovers that God has promised redemption for those outside Israel as well. Follow a physical and a faith journey across the ages all the way to the hope of an age.

With extensive and meticulous research, Terry Garner looks at Scripture and compares it with historical secular accounts. Even more exciting, however, are the things he discovered along the way. He talks about Jewish historians discounting Scriptural accounts of historical events to explain away the supernatural as if God Almighty… isn’t!

And then, Terry explains how he’s also writing a nonfiction book to help readers pull all the pieces from Scripture and see what God has promised us… so that we may know His plans. I’m excited about that book, but I confess, learning he’s working on a spinoff of the Magi series excited me even more. EEEP!

Terry Garner has all his books on sale right now!

The paperbacks are on sale for 9.95 and the box set (also available on Kindle Unlimited) is on sale for 4.99!

Magi Journey by Terry Garner

A sweeping historical saga from the courts of Tiglath-Piliser III in Assyria to the sleepy town of Bethlehem. History is seen through the eyes of the Magi as they journey from 734 BC to -0- AD.

Explore with the Magi the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. Witness God’s judgment on Israel, Assyria, and Babylon. And rejoice in the redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messiah.

Join the Magi as they answer the question that is critical to every man and woman, “Who Is This Messiah?”

Learn more about Terry on his WEBSITE.

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Episode 217: A Chat with Biblical Fiction Author, Terry Garner
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March 31, 2023
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