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Mary Mae likes it at Remnant Church of God. She likes all of the Praise the Lords and the Amens, and the fact that folks can just get on up and tell everybody what it is they’re thankful for. Her pastor, Sister Coates, is preaching about how important it is to believe every word in the Bible, and how it’s the duty of all to spread the Word. She gives everyone a stack of John 3:16 stickers, and soon Mary Mae is in the car with her Mama and her Granny heading to the mall, hoping to save souls.

On the way back home, her Mama gets pulled over by the police. While they are stopped, Mary Mae notices the stripes in the rocks are just like the ones that they’ve been talking about at school. She tells her Granny about the different eras that they represent (just like she tells her Granny about everything that she learns in school), and Mama is none too pleased. She lets Mary Mae know that they don’t believe in different eras…they believe that the Earth is 6000 years old. Now, Mary Mae is a girl who likes her facts, so when she gets home she combs her Bible for where it says that the Earth is 6000 years old. When she doesn’t find the information she wants, she asks her Pastor about it. Sister Coates doesn’t seem too happy with the questions that Mary Mae is asking, and soon the Sunday school class is assigned to put on a puppet show all about Creation.

Meanwhile, at school Mrs. Sizemore is teaching Mary Mae’s class all about the Ordovician Age and trilobites. She lets them know that there are lots of fossils to be found in their own area, due to a warm shallow sea that used to cover their part of Ohio…and they are going to dig for some as a class! Mary Mae is super excited, and is very proud of her finds. She knows she should be sitting out with Shirley Whirly (who goes to Remnant Church of God), but she just can’t. Science seems to pull at her heart. She just can’t understand why her Mama and her Pastor seem so upset when she asks questions. Mama is so upset that she’s getting ready to yank her out of school and teach her at home.

Sandra Dutton has written a gem of a book that explores the faith/science divide. Mary Mae loves her church life, but loves her school life as well. Her Mama’s mind is completely closed, and new information seems to genuinely scare her. Granny is such a breath of fresh air and an amazing character that she quickly became a favourite of mine. She has a thirst for knowledge just like Mary Mae, and she makes Mary Mae feel safe in her explorations. Because of the questioning of faith this book not might find as wide of an audience as it should, but readers will truly enjoy Mary Mae’s journey and her bravery. Dutton has the voice of the family down pat, and I think this could be an important book for those on both sides of the evolution/intelligent design debate.

Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang have been friends forever. They are in their last year before middle school, and they know it’s time to take action regarding their popularity. Better stated, their lack of popularity is the real problem. They have watched Lydia’s sister make the transition to middle school and somewhere along the lines she went from a tanned, cute, musical girl to a pale, black-haired, pierced being. To tell the truth, Lydia and Julie are a bit scared of her, and want to make sure that nothing like that happens to them along the way.

But how to get popular? They decide their best course of action is to do some good old-fashioned research by studying the girls who are now popular, and recording their findings in a journal. They divide the work up by having Julie do most of the writing and drawing (since she’s better at both), and having Lydia dictate.

They study the 4 main popular girls: Gretchen (who has the cool blonde streak in her hair), Lisa (who has the expensive cell phone), Jane (the fashionista, theater girl) and Sukie (who they can’t really figure out). Should they dye their hair like Gretchen? Learn to knit or play field hockey like Sukie? Start to like boys?

The girls end up trying various hobbies and interests of the other girls on for size. Is the result popularity? What do you think?

Amy Ignatow has created a super cute scrapbook-style book, that tween readers will eat up. Not only is the format fun, by Ignatow is able to go beyond the format to get at the meaty issues of girl-friendships. There are bossy moments, backstabbing moments and she brings the ebbs and flows of girl-friendship alive on the pages. And Julia's parents just happen to be two dads, which is always a good thing. Ignatow does this with panache, without Julia's family being a big deal, simply a fact.

I read this in arc format (due out 4/10) and I cannot wait to see the final copy. The details even in the arc are stupendous with scotch taped bits, school notes, and hilarious illustrations. I hand sold it to a big reader of mine, and it’s safe to say that The Popularity Papers won’t cross my desk again until every girl (and some of the boys) in her class have read it