Books for Christian Girls: "Becoming Me" by Melody Carlson

About this book:

“In the fictional Diary of a Teenage Girl, sixteen-year-old Caitlin O'Conner reveals the inner workings of a girl caught between childhood and womanhood ... an empty life without Christ and a meaningful one with Him. Through Caitlin's candid journal entries we see her grapple with such universal teen issues as peer pressure, loyalty, conflict with parents, the longing for a boyfriend, and her own spirituality. Readers will laugh and cry with Caitlin as she struggles toward self-discovery and understanding God's plan for her life. And they'll be deeply moved by her surprising commitment regarding dating.
Follow Caitlin O'Conner, a girl much like yourself, as she makes her way from New Year's to the first day of summer -- surviving a challenging home life, changing friends, school pressures, an identity crisis, and the uncertainties of "true love."
You'll cry with Caitlin as she experiences heartache, and cheer for her as she encounters a new reality in her life: God. See how rejection by one group can -- incredibly -- sometimes lead you to discover who you really are...”

Series: Book #1 in the series “Diary of a Teenage Girl: Caitlin”.

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God & forgiveness; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Going to Church & youth group; Caitlin becomes upset with God & thinks He turned His back on her (she later tries to learn more about religion and half-way through the story, asks Jesus into her heart); Caitlin doesn’t get why God would allow bad things to happen; Many mentions of churches, church going, Bible studies, youth group, youth group trips, pastors, & sermons/lessons; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Christians; Mentions of Heaven & Hell; Mentions of miracles; Mentions of Easter Sunday; Mentions of a mission trip; Mentions of a Christian concert; A couple mentions of a Jewish father & a daughter not practicing his religion; A couple mentions of Catholic nuns; A mention of a Christian convention; A mention of a church camp;

*Note: A couple mentions of rumors about a freshman belonging to a satanic group & vowing to kill Christians; A couple mentions of selling your soul to the devil; A mention of when Caitlin was thirteen, she thought her dad “was the next thing to God himself”.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘#@!!#!’, a form of ‘darn’, a ‘screwed up’, two ‘duh’s, two forms of ‘dumb’, three forms of ‘crap’, three ‘idiot’s, three ‘shut up’s, three forms of ‘wimp’, eight forms of ‘crud’, and forty-eight forms of ‘stupid’; Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Some lying; Caitlin thinks about suicide at one point when things are hard (she comments that it would be an easy escape from all the pain, but does not attempted anything); Caitlin goes to parties with underage drinking & drugs and does try a drink at one party (she does get into a car with a driver that drank); Mentions of a school shooting & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of being suicidal; Mentions of alcohol, parties, underage drinking, & throwing up; Mentions of alcohol, bars, smoking, drugs, & addicts; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of a dog being hit by a car & dying (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of drunk driving accidents; A few mentions of stealing & being arrested; A few mentions of bullies/gangs & being beat up; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of a father leaving his family; A couple mentions of divorces; A mention of tattoos;

*Note: Mentions of car brands; Mentions of brand names & stores; Mentions of actors/actresses (Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Marilyn Monroe); A mention of an author.

Sexual Content- an almost kiss, three not-detailed kisses, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss, three make-out/touching scenes (semi-detailed), and a scene where an intoxicated guy tries to be aggressive with Caitlin (she tries to push him off); Remembering and Imagining kisses, touches, embraces, & wondering what doing more would be like (they never do more though, up to semi-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoiler* Caitlin finds out that her dad is having an affair (or thinking about having one) and because of hypocrisy she decides that she wants nothing to do with Christianity or church things *End of Spoiler*; *Spoiler* Caitlin decides towards the end of the book to stay a virgin until the day she gets married (she knows it may not be easy, but wants to honor this promise) *End of Spoiler*; *Spoiler* Caitlin’s best friend, Beanie, is afraid that she is pregnant and it is confirmed that she is *End of Spoiler*; a ‘tramp’; Many, many mentions of s*x, high school boys being after one thing, teenagers having s*x often (Caitlin mentions that the girls at her school talk about it lot & have it on school grounds), teens renting hotel rooms after prom (and one of them telling Caitlin all about it), teens’ s*x lives, & waiting for marriage to do it; Many, many mentions of boys, cute boys, crushes, boyfriends/girlfriends, dating, dates, dances, break-ups, & exes; Mentions of seeing a R-rated movie with s*x scenes (Caitlin watches one with a guy) & Caitlin wonders after seeing the actors doing it if it is actually okay to do it; Mentions of out-of-wedlock pregnancies & the chance of getting pregnant; Mentions of abortions, Planned Parenthood, those for it (or were for it), & a boyfriend wanting his girlfriend to go there and get one (Caitlin and her best friend are against them); Mentions of praying that God restoring a girl’s virginity; Mentions of affairs; Mentions of kisses, kissing, a first kiss (Caitlin had her first kiss at a middle school church camp during a game of spin the bottle), seeing couples kissing, & making out; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of date rape; A few mentions of jealousy; A mention of a couple using protection and it failing; A mention of a STD; A mention of a mom’s boyfriend who is a creep;

*Note: Caitlin wears a top that shows a little skin on a date & when her dad nearly comments on it, she thinks to him to get over it; Mentions of anorexia (some popular girls thought that it was cool); A few mentions of a guy thinking Caitlin’s outfit is “sensuous”; A couple mentions of PMS & periods; A mention of cramps; A mention of a strapless dress.

-Caitlin O’Conner, age 16
P.O.V. of Caitlin (in a diary-style)
249 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Add a star for those in Public or Private School.}

When I first read this book as a pre-teen, I really enjoyed it—probably because of all of the teen drama, but now—nearly ten years later, it’s really not my cup of tea. According to a recent poll I did on Instagram, not many readers mind out-dated contemporary books, but I think I fall in the minority of those results. I struggled with the diary-style writing in this book (including the font that can be hard on the eyes), but there are good lessons in this first book. You just have to get through Caitlin’s desire for being popular, a guy that isn’t good for her who she keeps kissing, going to parties with underage drinking and smoking, and more trouble. While I liked Caitlin better by the end of the story, I don’t believe I’ll be continuing rereading the rest of her series.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!