Confessions of a Closet Catholic

by Sarah Littman

~To be more like her best friend, eleven-year-old Justine decides to give up Judaism to become Catholic, but after her beloved, religious grandmother dies, she realizes that she needs to seek her own way of being Jewish. ~

I only got 1/4 of the way through this book, if that. For me, it didn't go anywhere fast enough. I'm beginning to wonder if this trend of diary-format books has become as popular as it is because it helps to disguise poor plot development. In Confessions the young heroine, Justine, tries to find identity through faith by giving up Judaism for Lent. She plays at being Catholic, taking homemade communion and confession to her teddy bear in her closet.

Confessions just didn't have enough for me although I suspect the plot was about to get more substantial with the impending death of Justine's beloved (and devoutly Jewish) grandmother. There are two possibilities as to why I put it down:

1. The author didn't pull me in to the story enough to get me to care about the characters.
or...
2. The target audience was fairly young (late elementary/early middle school), making the work too juvenile for my tastes. I didn't like juvenile books when I was that age and I definitely don't like them now.

Despite my complaints the book MAY, in its entirity, actually adresses issues like pre-teen identity crisis and questions of faith in a light-hearted and accessible manner. I wouldn't know. I don't plan on finishing it unless I hear some rave reviews from kids and coworkers.