Monday, December 24, 2012

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature

Author: Robin Brande
Pages: 265
Rating: PG - mild language

Summary:
Your best friend hates you. The guy you liked hates you. Your entire group of friends hates you.

All because you did the right thing.

Welcome to life for Mena, whose year is starting off in the worst way possible. She's been kicked out of her church group and no one will talk to her—not even her own parents. No one except for Casey, her supersmart lab partner in science class, who's pretty funny for the most brilliant guy on earth.

And when Ms. Shepherd begins the unit on evolution, school becomes more dramatic than Mena could ever imagine . . . and her own life is about to evolve in some amazing and unexpected ways.

My Thoughts: I absolutely love this book. I read it for the first time in high school and it helped me actually change my opinions about evolution.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Basically, Mena starts off her high school career with everyone hating her because in middle school, there was a kid in her school named Denny who may or may not have been gay, and Mena's pastor starts this campaign to root out homosexuality in their schools. The kids from Mena's church group are extremely mean to Denny, with one girl even dropping to her knees in front of him in the hallways to loudly pray for his soul. This kind of treatment drives Denny to attempt suicide. Mena feels so bad about it that she writes him a letter explaining everything and apologizing for her involvement. Well, Denny's parents then sue the church and all the families involved in the torment, and Mena gets the blame for it, and is kicked out of her church. Her parents are mad at her because they hold the insurance policies for all these church members, and the policies don't cover this type of lawsuit, causing the other church members to want to sue Mena's parents. It's all just a big huge mess.

So, Mena starts high school as a total outcast, and when her former church peers begin a campaign to stop the teaching of evolution in their school, Mena somehow finds herself on the other side of the conflict. My favorite part about Mena is that even though she realizes that her former friends and pastor are total hypocrites when it comes to religion, she doesn't let that ruin her personal belief in God. She still believes in Him, she loves to read her Bible, and genuinely misses going to church. But she knows that what her former friends and pastor are doing is wrong and un-Christian.

Mena's own beliefs change a little too. She realizes that it is possible to be a scientist and still be a good Christian. You can believe in evolution AND God. Because who knows HOW God actually created everything. He probably used evolution! Anyway, I just really love this book because of how it manages to combine science and religion in a way that makes sense and doesn't hurt anyone's feelings. It's super good.

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