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As fifteen-year-old Jamie becomes involved in the swim team and Special Olympics coaching, as part of her effort to fit in and be normal, she tries to remember to talk to God.
135 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Dandi Daley Mackall
352 books299 followersA professional writer for over 20 years, Dandi Daley Mackall has written dozens of articles for popular magazines and published around 500 books for children and adults alike, with sales of over 4 million.
A frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, she lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, horses, dogs, & cats. Awards include the Edgar Award for Best YA Mystery, the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children's Literature; Distinguished Alumni Award from Mizzou; ALA Best Book; Christian Children's Book of the Year, Amelia Bloom, Mom's Choice Awards. Her YA novel, My Boyfriends' Dogs, is now a Hallmark movie.
A frequent guest on radio and television talk shows, she lives in rural Ohio with her husband, three children, horses, dogs, & cats. Awards include the Edgar Award for Best YA Mystery, the Helen Keating Ott Award for Contributions to Children's Literature; Distinguished Alumni Award from Mizzou; ALA Best Book; Christian Children's Book of the Year, Amelia Bloom, Mom's Choice Awards. Her YA novel, My Boyfriends' Dogs, is now a Hallmark movie.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2018
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PLOT: Jamie Chandler longs to be "normal". Like her popular best friend Bren and the other Today's Girls who are all on the swim team. Or either she thinks she's "too normal". So she joins the swim team so for once she'll get to be in school's yearbook's pictures. During all this angst Bren signs her up to work with some special needs kids that are having a swimming competition, and she notices a guy at school the other kids make fun of and call "Special Ed" (how original) It's also during this time she notices that her little sister Jessica is acting oddly and suspects it's because there's a problem with her hearing. But she ignores it, even when Ed figures it out and tells her. Jessica ends up diagnosed with a hearing condition and Jamie had to re-evaluate her attitude towards those she sees as not normal.
MY THOUGHTS: It's really hard to talk about some of this book. I'll start with the easy stuff. I don't get what the big deal was Jamie had about wanting to "be normal." For someone like the kid's in the Special Olympics program or someone with health limitations I get wanting to be like everyone else. But Jamie doesn't have any such issues. She has what she thinks of as average looks but as she realized she could change that. Actually, if the covers are any indication she's relatively pretty. Sometimes you don't really need all that make-up. (Turns out she didn't even care about it because she found it too much effort). In every book I read about her she's VERY clumsy and I don't think there's one where she hasn't spilled something on somebody. But she doesn't do anything that abnormal. Then the ignorance she shows with her little sister when she sees she has a hearing disability but doesn't speak on it because she wants her sister to "be normal" was just stupid. Jessica showed more intelligence. Not once did she complain or show any shame in wearing a hearing aid or having surgery. What a brave little girl! I was NOT that brave when I got diagnosed with a health issue. I broke down into tears like it was the end of the world and I was older than her. Then there was the Christian aspect which is in all these books. The message is you should pray continuously and keep constant communication with God. As I read this and I saw Jamie trying to do the taught thing and going to God in prayer and her prayers being unanswered and her sister's hearing gets even worse, I really did feel her frustration and anger. By the end of the book, she's grateful and sees a lesson in it all. And maybe that's the way you're supposed to look at it. But I just couldn't help but to think what's the point of taking everything to God in prayer if he doesn't answer us and gives us the exact opposite of what we pray for? If you're trying to develop faith or even have faith and your request fall on deaf ears it can realistically turn you off to believing period. I guess the point we're supposed to walk away from with this is taking away the little girl's hearing showed Jamie that she needed to adjust her attitude toward people she considered "abnormal". And that we all have "handicaps" that we have to deal with in ourselves. Which is fair but it just stung to read a character very much like me that tried to be in the right and take my request to him and in turn, I got nothing back and failed to even see the lesson that you're supposed to get when something is removed or taken from us. But that's just the way I felt.
RATING: 5
PLOT: Jamie Chandler longs to be "normal". Like her popular best friend Bren and the other Today's Girls who are all on the swim team. Or either she thinks she's "too normal". So she joins the swim team so for once she'll get to be in school's yearbook's pictures. During all this angst Bren signs her up to work with some special needs kids that are having a swimming competition, and she notices a guy at school the other kids make fun of and call "Special Ed" (how original) It's also during this time she notices that her little sister Jessica is acting oddly and suspects it's because there's a problem with her hearing. But she ignores it, even when Ed figures it out and tells her. Jessica ends up diagnosed with a hearing condition and Jamie had to re-evaluate her attitude towards those she sees as not normal.
MY THOUGHTS: It's really hard to talk about some of this book. I'll start with the easy stuff. I don't get what the big deal was Jamie had about wanting to "be normal." For someone like the kid's in the Special Olympics program or someone with health limitations I get wanting to be like everyone else. But Jamie doesn't have any such issues. She has what she thinks of as average looks but as she realized she could change that. Actually, if the covers are any indication she's relatively pretty. Sometimes you don't really need all that make-up. (Turns out she didn't even care about it because she found it too much effort). In every book I read about her she's VERY clumsy and I don't think there's one where she hasn't spilled something on somebody. But she doesn't do anything that abnormal. Then the ignorance she shows with her little sister when she sees she has a hearing disability but doesn't speak on it because she wants her sister to "be normal" was just stupid. Jessica showed more intelligence. Not once did she complain or show any shame in wearing a hearing aid or having surgery. What a brave little girl! I was NOT that brave when I got diagnosed with a health issue. I broke down into tears like it was the end of the world and I was older than her. Then there was the Christian aspect which is in all these books. The message is you should pray continuously and keep constant communication with God. As I read this and I saw Jamie trying to do the taught thing and going to God in prayer and her prayers being unanswered and her sister's hearing gets even worse, I really did feel her frustration and anger. By the end of the book, she's grateful and sees a lesson in it all. And maybe that's the way you're supposed to look at it. But I just couldn't help but to think what's the point of taking everything to God in prayer if he doesn't answer us and gives us the exact opposite of what we pray for? If you're trying to develop faith or even have faith and your request fall on deaf ears it can realistically turn you off to believing period. I guess the point we're supposed to walk away from with this is taking away the little girl's hearing showed Jamie that she needed to adjust her attitude toward people she considered "abnormal". And that we all have "handicaps" that we have to deal with in ourselves. Which is fair but it just stung to read a character very much like me that tried to be in the right and take my request to him and in turn, I got nothing back and failed to even see the lesson that you're supposed to get when something is removed or taken from us. But that's just the way I felt.
RATING: 5
May 24, 2019
This is a mini ‘Books For Christian Girls’ review. It is not a full content review and will not receive one. These mini-reviews are years old and just for clarity on the rating the book received on Goodreads.
10/13/2015-
“Compared to the other books in the series, this book didn't feel as out of date which was a nice surprise. I was able to enjoy the book better because of this. The "text talk" was over the top, per usual. The Special Olympics was a fun portion of this book.”
*Main Content-
Mean teasing; Many mentions of barf & vomit; Mentions of Jamie's father who left & her parents being divorced; a 'duh', a form of 'dumb', two 'idiot's, and four 'stupid's.
Mentions of boys & crushes; Mentions of boyfriends & kissing; a 'hotttie', two 'stud's, and three 'hot's.
A few mentions of mini skirts, skin-tight shirts, & mid-drift showing tops.
10/13/2015-
“Compared to the other books in the series, this book didn't feel as out of date which was a nice surprise. I was able to enjoy the book better because of this. The "text talk" was over the top, per usual. The Special Olympics was a fun portion of this book.”
*Main Content-
Mean teasing; Many mentions of barf & vomit; Mentions of Jamie's father who left & her parents being divorced; a 'duh', a form of 'dumb', two 'idiot's, and four 'stupid's.
Mentions of boys & crushes; Mentions of boyfriends & kissing; a 'hotttie', two 'stud's, and three 'hot's.
A few mentions of mini skirts, skin-tight shirts, & mid-drift showing tops.
April 23, 2009
It's an awesome book about how you should handle school problems and her learning life long lessons.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews