Katy's Debate

Title: KATY’S DEBATE
Author: Kim Vogel Sawyer
Publisher: Zondervan
May 2010
ISBN: 978-0-310-71923-6
Genre: Inspirational/teen

Katy Lambright has joined the debate club in her public high school, and she’s looking forward to her first debate. So far she’s learned how to keep score, and now she’s learning how to judge. Katy is keeping copious notes so she’ll succeed when it’s her turn.

Things are great, except that since Katy managed to get in trouble when she started attending public school, her dad and family believe that she needs a mother to keep her in line. So her dad has started courting a woman that Katy refuses to accept.

Katy must send this woman packing so she devises a plan to get her out of her life permanently. But who will she hurt in the process? Will Katy learn anything about life in this real-time debate?

KATY’S DEBATE is the second book in Ms. Sawyer’s Katy Lambright Series, set in a Mennonite community near Salina, Kansas. Katy is unlearning most of the traits of the Mennonites in this book, getting what some homeschoolers would call “the public school influence.” I didn’t think very highly of Katy’s actions in this book, she was quite hateful, disrespectful, and obnoxious at times. But she did learn a valuable lesson by the end of the book—not only about interfering in adult relationships, but also about her relationship with some of her peers.

If you are looking or a teen book (or series) for your teenager, then the Katy Lambright series would be a good set to pick up. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $9.99. 206 pages.