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So I was in a mood this week and decided to pull another old book off of my review shelf. This time it was Ten Commandments for Kissing Gloria Jean
So the blurb on Amazon is short and sweet:
A 14-year-old girl who wants her first kiss more than anything gets diagnosed with Celiac disease, prompting important considerations about her body and her Catholic faith. Themes include: faith, choices, and sex & relationships.
This is a book that would have done me a world of good when *I* was in junior high. I don’t know what kind of circumstances everyone else grew up with, but my crowd, who were considered pretty good kids, was well immersed in the whole children masquerading as grown-ups thing. All manner and form of sexual activity was happening beginning in 7th or 8th grade for the “bad” kids and in 9th or 10th (if we worked hard at it) for the rest of us. A few escaped, but I’m sure there weren’t a lot of them.
A lot of reviewers didn’t like the tone. But as a teenager who did too much too soon and spend years undoing the damage, I really identified with Gloria Jean. She reminded me a lot of myself. Except that SHE had better influences, was nicer and not as stupid. Her preoccupation with kissing and various boys is not abnormal, but I LOVE how they tied in the difference between her public school sex ed classes and the “worldly” girl that no one is nice to and contrasted it with the other Catholics (boys and girls) in her Confirmation prep and Theology of the Body. It is overtly Catholic and even has her attending adoration.
Gloria Jean was likeable and though some grown-ups may think she’s a bit ridiculous, she is an authentic teenage voice. I would consider this book appropriate for grade 6-8 unfortunately — once the boy, kissing thing has begun to infiltrate. I have no idea how you would know that — my oldest is only 7 :). If your child (or one you know) regularly reads regular fiction dealing with these issues, this is almost essential to provide a normal-feeling book with a Catholic worldview.
Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this book and I am saving it for when my oldest is old enough. It’s really that good, and although I really hate to think about my kids having those thoughts about kissing and boys and dating, it’s going to happen soon. Kids push each other to do things and hormones push them to do things. Having a novel that makes those things feel normal AND having the Catholic POV from a teenagers standpoint, well, I think it will help. It sure would have helped me.
