Becoming Birgit

by Ashleigh Stevens

When I went to bed, I dreamt that a girl slightly younger than I was sitting at my desk in my room, writing in her reflections journal. Her unkempt hair reached halfway down her back and her head was bowed low to the desk as she wrote feverishly. After a moment, the girl looked up and her soft brown eyes caught sight of me. She put down her pen, closed her journal, and stood, turning to face me. As she handed me her journal, she spoke in a quiet, pleading voice. “I know you don’t think much of me now,” she began. “But, my writing is immature. Give me a chance to grow before you make your decision.” She was gone in the blink of an eye and I was left standing in the middle of my room with the journal in my hand. When Birgit discovers an old diary, she assumes reading it will help her identify the author. As she delves deeper into the journal, however, she receives the guidance to learn more about herself and her Catholic identity than she ever anticipated.

294 pages, Paperback

Published April 22, 2017

Reviews

[haddie bear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It wasn't bad at all. It just didn't have much of any specific topic or story. I think the whole managing a chaste relationship was great, but it didn't really feel like the story went any farther than that. I really did enjoy this book because I felt like I related, or will. It was a breath of fresh air. It's about kids learning to have a relationship while they are still growing religiously. Both characters were writers. One problem I had with this book is that it's called "Becoming Birjit". It isn't about Birjit. I mean it is, a little bit, but it's really mostly about the journal she finds. And, how did Birjit not connect the dots until the end. You'd think she'd find that out much faster, but apparently not. This book also felt very sunshine-and-rainbows-y because any conflict the characters had would be immediately resolved with nothing else. No fight. Nothing. Just, "sorry," and "it's ok." I kept waiting at the end for the conflict that usually happens in these kinds of books, but it never came. It was just all "and they lived happily ever after."

[Sandra Guzas · Rating 4 out of 5]

O liked the book very much. It's geared more toward the preteen

I like the book very much. It's geared toward the teenage group and it's a wholesome book dealing with some of the questions teens would have at their age. I highly recommend it to the preteen/teenage girl.