Confessions of a Closet Catholic

Book excerpt: Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award! An "eleven-going-on-twelve-year-old Jewish girl" searches for her identity in what Publisher's Weekly called a "reassuring debut novel about finding one's personal peace-and-comfort zone." Justine Silver's best friend, Mary Catherine McAllister, has given up chocolate for Lent, but Justine doesn't think God wants her to make that kind of sacrifice. So she's decided to give up being Jewish instead. Eleven-year-old Justine pours her heart out to her teddy bear, "Father Ted," in a homemade closet confessional. But when Justine's beloved Bubbe suffers a stroke, Justine worries that her religious exploration is responsible. Worse, she must suddenly contemplate life without Bubbe. Ultimately, it's Bubbe's quiet understanding of Justine's search for identity that helps Justine to find faith in the most important place of all-within herself.