Melody Carlson

[Mandy]

Melody Carlson is another author that has written several books for for YA that integrate faith. She writes mostly series, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors, and the Carter House Girls. The series I just started is Notes from a spinning planet, which is about a girl that embarks on world travels with her aunt that's a reporter. The first book is Notes from a Spinning Planet--Ireland which was a quick read that explored how it can be hard for teenagers to combine religious beliefs and cultural beliefs, particularly drinking. It really made me want to go visit Ireland!

[Brenda]

Thanks for the heads-up Mandy. I will have to seekout this author.

[Laura]

I just finished the first in Melody Carlson's Diary of a Teenage Girl series about Caitlin O'Conner. I really enjoyed it. There are evidently two diary series. Here is the first title in each one:


Becoming Me

and

My Name is Chloe

The Chloe series features Caitlin's boyfriend's younger sister.

Becoming Me explores many issues relevant to today's teens, including teen sex and dating, alcohol, drugs, teen violence, parents with substance issues and even parents struggling with adultery. I highly recommend the Caitlin series for middle school and high school aged kids.

[Brenda]

At a charity store today I found two of the Chloe books. Is it suggested to read them in order of printing?

[Mandy]

From what I can tell, they do progress sequentially as far as the relationships between the friends and the status of the band, but I'm not sure if it's the kind of series where you have to read #1 to know what's going on.

[Julie]

I like her TrueColors series, but it's difficult to read them so close to each other. After a while, they seem to be repeating each other.