Catie Conrad: Faith, Friendship and Fashion Disasters is the first book in the Desperate Diva Diaries Series by Angie Spady. It is a beautiful hardcover book that has the most wonderful illustrations by Channing Everidge in it and is sure to appeal to teen girls. I always enjoy faith based books and I think they are especially important to young girls who are looking for a way to fit in or even just to realize they are not alone in the multitude of feelings they are dealing with daily with growing up and I love that this book does that with a good dose of humor added in.
Catie Conrad is just your normal Christian tween struggling with all the same stuff as any other girl her age even if she does think her problems are by far the worst ever. When her father brings her home a few journals to record her thoughts in she thinks he may be crazy but then decides that it might be a good idea to write down how she’s feeling about everything. And she does just that! She writes about her challenges in getting along with her younger brother and his pet skunk, her issues at school and at home, and even more importantly her crush on a boy at school. All along the way she has the support of her best friend Sophie and their mutual belief in God.
Catie is a girl that many young girls will relate to. She dreams of one day becoming a fashion designer and spends a lot of time sharing her design ideas and sketches in her diary. She loves her best friend and dislikes the popular girl in school who isn’t all that nice and who wants the same boy she does. She also wants the same things any young girl does like a new cell phone. However when Catie’s dad has the whole family go out to serve in the mission field Catie realizes that there are way more important things than having the newest and best of everything. Nothing can be better than spreading the word of God and seeing people react to that in a positive way.
This is the perfect book for tween readers. The diary layout is great for easy reading and teen girls will love all of the illustrations. Catie’s life struggles will help teen girls deal with their own issues and I love that the book shows how God can help in any and all situations in life. I’ll be reviewing the second book entitled Catie Conrad: How to Become the Most (un)Popular Girl in Middle School soon and I can’t wait for more of Catie’s adventures. Highly recommended!
That looks adorable!!
Kathy, it really is adorable.
Darlene, this does sound like a wonderful reading choice for tweens. Lovely review!