Book Review: Moms With PreTeens Meet The Christy Miller Series

If you’re a mom of a preteen or teen girl, I feel for you. Not just because of the hormones and the iphones and the facebook, although listing all that out actually makes me feel more for you…but I feel for you in that things are getting really messy at a younger age. I was in a bookstore recently and had a  moment of wandering into the Teenage Fiction area, where I was astounded to see every single book cover was a remake of a dark romance involving some sort of demonic half human, or a post-apocalyptic drama. What happened to sweet stories with happy endings and light-hearted humor?I was sweeping up cobwebs today in our guest room when I caught sight of that familiar friend sitting on the shelf. Favorite books become like friends for me, and I know it sounds trite and ridiculous but its absolutely the truth. I’m one of those people who get emotionally engaged in every story, and I try to read quickly so I don’t have to live life half-inside of a book for days on end. During the most formative years of my life, junior high and high school, I had a favorite series whose characters remarkably affected my own opinions on romance, friendship and pursuing God. If you’re in a conundrum over where to find literature your daughters can read that won’t molest their minds, than I’m going to suggest my very favorite book series ever:

The Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn.

Maybe some of you read The Christy Miller Series yourself and already have it on a shelf waiting for your daughter. I applaud you, and would love to share the news with you that Robin just published the first in a series on Christy & Todd in their married years. Truth. I know you want to go buy it now. But for those of you who have never been properly introduced to Christy Miller, I’m here to help…

Christy is 15 when we meet her, and she is a Midwestern misfit, sunk into the beachy soil of Southern California. The first book walks us through her salvation experience, and a summer of navigating through the typical temptations that are thrown at any highschool girl. What Robin does beautifully, in The Christy Miller Series, and what too many authors are failing to do lately, is preserve the purity of Christy’s story while still allowing for it to be realistic. It’s exposure but in a way that is safe and trustworthy. The Christy Miller Series follows her through high school and a lingering relationship with a guy who loves Jesus, and let me just say, I actually thought I had to marry a blond surfer with silver-blue eyes for many years because of Todd. Thankfully, God intervened and I am very blissfully married to a Midwestern man with brown eyes, black hair, who has never touched a surf board.

While The Christy Miller Series was published first in 1988, they were republished in 2011 and the story is relevant in every way. Maybe you have a lot of time on your hands and want to read the series first, I highly recommend it! These books are precious and will do nothing but put prayers of hope on your heart for your daughter to have friends and faith like Christy. And if you read the books way back when, I hope I’m reminding you of how sweet they are, and how worth stocking up on for your children.

I know for me, seeing those books today, and hearing my little girl’s singing in the next room, I had a moment of eager anticipation for the day I can present The Christy Miller Series to her. And I’m pretty sure she and Christy will be fast friends too.

Have you read the Christy Miller Series?

Copyright © Charis Freije, Moms of Faith®, All Rights Reserved

Pin it for later!