Converting Kate
by Beckie Weinheimer

    CONVERTING KATE by Beckie Weinheimer
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  3/15/07
    Publisher:  Viking
    Reviewed by:  Marta Morrison
    Rating:  5 Stars


    CONVERTING KATE was a thought-provoking story.  

    Kate has been raised by a mother who is deeply involved with a church called the Church of the Holy Divine.  This
    church influences everything that Kate and her family does.  It comes between her mom and dad and they get
    divorced.  After the divorce, her dad has a heart attack and Kate and her mom move to Maine to live with Kate's
    Aunt Katherine so her mom can manage the inn her aunt owns.  

    Kate loves to run so she joins the cross country team at the high school and she makes new friends -- but she
    rejects her mom's church.  The conflict between Kate and her mother, and Kate finding her own beliefs, are the
    focal point of the story.  

    The church that Kate belongs to is a church in the extreme.  I would have classified it as a cult.  It monitors
    everything that Kate does.  I am quite religious and believe that God is my savior, but my beliefs are joyous and my
    God is loving and kind.  Kate's church believes that only the members of her own church will be saved.  This is
    contrary to the belief that there are many branches to the love of Christ.  

    I liked the journey that Kate went on but I was sad that she didn't realize that God lives in each of us and that a
    church can be as flawed as the people that attend it, but that doesn't mean that God can't be there in a lot of its
    members.  I believe that the road that Kate takes is the most important, and that most teens take that path and
    everyone comes to different conclusions.  

    Please read CONVERTING KATE if you have any questions about your faith or want to find out about different
    faiths.