Jana's Journal: A Novel

by Jeanette Windle

Seventeen-year-old Jana Thompson is just beginning what should be the best year of her life — her senior year. It's supposed to be amazing, but if the first few days of school are any indication, this year is going to be, well . . . pretty awful. A self-image problem (with a nasty new attitude), a desperately cute guy with an annoying sense of civic responsibility, and a family Jana would love to wish on her worst enemy — a certain gorgeous blonde — are just the tip of the iceberg. Add a vicious inner-city gang with revenge on its mind, and she's on a collision course with disaster. Things could get messy, so buckle up and hang on. This is Jana's Journal , and its no holds barred.

Genres: Young Adult, Christian

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

As the child of missionary parents, award-winning author and journalist Jeanette Windle grew up in the rural villages, jungles, and mountains of Colombia, now guerrilla hot zones. Her detailed research and writing is so realistic that it has prompted government agencies to question her to determine if she has received classified information. Curently based in Lancaster, PA, Jeanette has lived in six countries and traveled in more than twenty. She has more than a dozen books in print, including the political/suspense best seller "CrossFire" and the Parker Twins juvenile mystery series.

Reviews

[Kirsty Pearce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, does this book take me back. Right smack dab in the middle of my teenage years, I must have read this book at least 3 times, and this many years later scenes from the book still roll across the front of my brain like a movie, in picture perfect color. Told in the wonderfully awesome format of journal entries, although the first half of the book is important to truly appreciate the enormous growth and character arc Jana undergoes, for me it's the second half where it really picks up, when Jana attends her first afternoon volunteering at the Youth Center in the middle of the city. Being exposed to the realities of life for the people who frequent it, and having her rather naive and arrogant assumptions and prejudices challenged makes for fantastic reading, and when you add her run-ins and eventual pseudo-friendship with a young woman who just joined a gang, and guards a life-and-death secret, things get real fast. Giving Jana's father the job of being a police officer also folds into this story-line nicely.

Jana's relationship with her family, especially her little brother and father, who she grows much closer to as the book progresses, is wonderful and relatable. The little romantic side-plots involving two other couples, as well as Jana and a certain cute, compassionate Teacher's Aid, are also delightful additions which are neither too little nor take over the story, a story focused on chronicling a year filled with learning to appreciate family, gaining maturity, experiencing excitement, and self-discovery in the life of this normal, everyday girl.

[Rachel Rittenhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Jana's Journal" is written in journal format, but it was so interesting and I loved it! The story line moved continuously and the plot had a way of grabbing you to make you want to read what happened next!