These two books have very little in common besides the fact that they were both nominees for the RI Teen Book Award in 2007. While they were both fun, and I would recommend them both to middle school students, neither one was perfect.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan was a beautifully written with almost poetic descriptions of Africa, but the end was a bit too predictable for me to consider it a great book. I loved the premise--a young orphaned girl in Africa is hijacked by a couple to pose as their daughter in an attempt to win back the good graces of the rich grandfather. It has all the trappings of an old-fashioned classic, but as I said, I guessed much of the ending about three quarters of the way through the story. That just left some of the details.
Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman starts with quite a bang. The closet Catholic of the title is not Catholic at all, but Jewish! Again, what a great premise: what happens when a young Jewish girl decides to give up being Jewish for Lent? Justine is a excellent role model for middle school students who are asking themselves about their own identity. My biggest criticism is that the book gets slightly, and I mean slightly, preachy. But really, how can you avoid being preachy when you have a priest and a rabbi talking to a young girl exploring her faith?
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