Leap of Faith
Abigail has been kicked out of sixth grade for attacking the principal's son with a knife. That leaves her with only a few schooling options, and her parents pick Catholic school. Angry that no one seems interested in how bullying pushed her to the assault, Abigail thinks she'll teach her workaholic, nonreligious parents a lesson by feigning interest in Catholicism. Predictably, Abigail starts to find her religious studies intriguing, yet even she is not sure what she really believes or how much of a commitment she's ready to make to faith. This works well as a depiction of a child's one-step forward, one-step back approach to religion. But where Abigail comes across as a real kid, opening herself to new and somewhat scary ideas, her parents are strictly one-dimensional, stereotypical to the point of unbelievability in their pursuit of job status. Other supporting characters, including the school priest and Abigail's potential godmother, are more rounded, though also out of central casting. Despite the book's pat ending, this is meaty for a middle-grade novel and may lead readers to think about what they believe. Cooper, Ilene