2014 Christmas Give-Away - Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship and Fashion Disasters

I was recently sent a book from the Desperate Diva Diaries series, in exchange for a review with my opinion . . . since I always received books for Christmas as a child, I thought it sounded like a fun title to include in my 2014 Christmas Gift Review/Give-Away. 

Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship and Fashion Disasters
Author - Angie Spady
Illustrator - Channing Everidge
Publisher - BH Kids
Ages - 8-12

Favorite Features - 

• Connects the "drama" in the life of a middle school girl to God's Word
• Illustrations/drawings throughout add to the fun - well done!
• Readers are likely to connect with something "Catie" goes through in this book and find solid "advice" for dealing with it.

BH Kids says; "Meet, Catie Conrad - a typical, tween, Christian girl with, oh, the weight of the world on her shoulders. And if it isn’t bad enough that no one seems to understand the social pressures of being the greatest at everything, donning the latest fashions, and carrying the trendiest technology, Catie’s dad is about to uproot her and her family to an Native American reservation during spring break for his job. Throw in a school dance, a major art contest, and an arch nemesis known only as Miranda Maroni and there’s bound to be an epic meltdown of biblical proportions. Or, maybe not…

Finally a voice in the tween genre which is relatable and no less humorous for girls aged 9 to 12 by author Angie Spady. The first book in a new series titled Desperate Diva Diaries, Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship, and Fashion Disasters chronicles both the small triumphs and general mishaps of sixth-grade, Christian, want-to-be diva, Catie Conrad. While her Christian journalist father is often a co-conspirator to making Catie’s life interesting with mission trips and church projects, Catie never ceases to realize God’s hand in all situations."

While I think the girl in the story (Catie Conrad) may have been "loaded down" with too many tween "problems" for one book, I really like how she is encouraged the respond to her "problems" with patience and prayer. I especially liked how Catie and her family went on a short mission trip to an Apache Reservation during Spring Break. I would have liked to see more information shared about ministry to Native Americans, (the Children's Pastor at my church is getting ready to take his family to serve full-time with the Apache in Arizona - his daughter is getting this book! - so, seeing this component to this book was surprising and interesting!) and I think it would have been a great additional feature to add a page in the back about real ministry to Native Americans and how girls who read this book can pray for the children on reservations (there is serious neglect and abuse of children on reservations.) Written in "diary form" this is not a "typical" tween book, but one grandparents - and parents - can give to the tween girl they love and know she will be encouraged to make wise choices as she reads about how Catie tries to do the same.

I'm very happy to say, not only did BH Kids send me one copy of Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship and Fashion Disasters for review, but they are making another available for me to give away (USA only)! If you are over the age of 18 and would like to be in the drawing (USA only) which will be on November 7, 2014, please comment below to let me know if you - or your children/grandchildren have ever been on a mission trip and if so, to where. I served for a year with LIGHT Ministries in Northern California - where I met my husband and our children have served with ZJAM in Costa Rica, Youth for Christ in Mexico and Royal Servants in Nepal, Thailand, England, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Island of Rhodes as well as with their youth group on a Native American reservation in South Dakota, a camp in West Virginia and the Bahamas.

In addition, you will receive additional entries if you have followed on Google+, Google Friend Connect, followed by liking on facebook with the tab at this link (not just liking the post) and/or have followed grandma's cookie jar by email. For each of these which you have done you will receive one entry. In addition, if you "share" this post, you'll receive an additional entry (please let me know if you share). This will help me be able to draw names from among people who would like to win Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship and Fashion Disasters and it gives you several ways to enter the give-away!