A Not-So-Simple Life

Title: A NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE
Author: Melody Carlson
Publisher: Multnomah Books
July 2008
ISBN: 978-1-60142-117-3
Genre: Inpsirational/youth

To the casual observer, Maya Stark would appear to live an enviable life. A mansion in Beverly Hills, a Mom who lets her do whatever, and a Dad who is a star. But appearances are deceiving. The house has been mortgaged so much, it’s unclear who owns it. Maya’s parents are divorced. And money? Well, what little there is funds Maya’s mother’s drug addiction.

Out of self-desperation, Maya goes “green.” She grows her own garden. It beats starving! And she takes a job to pay for the items she must buy. But when Maya’s mother vanishes for several days on end, it paves the way for Maya suddenly finding herself living with relatives. A biracial child, Maya is struggling with identity problems anyway. Will living with relatives help her find the answers she’s desperately seeking?

A NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE is book one in the Diary of a Teenage Girl—Maya series. I sympathized entirely with Maya, and grew to know and love her through the pages of her diary. In spite of her lifestyle, Maya is real, someone that any mother with a heart wants to reach out and love on, and a girl that teens and preteens will relate with.

I was a bit irritated at the implication in the pages that only dead-beats would home school their children, but that was Maya’s thoughts, because her mother is a dead-beat and that was a reason Maya was forced out of school. Otherwise, the book is extremely well-written, deals with realistic gritty subjects as only Melody Carlson can, and held my interest. Don’t miss A NOT-SO-SIMPLE LIFE. Perfect for your favorite preteen or teen girl. $12.99. 248 pages.