Trade Paperback
240 pages
Aug 2005
Bethany House

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

Chopstick is a type of book you don't often find: one Christian parents will applaud, and, at the same time, one their early teenage daughters will enjoy.

Chinese-food-loving, early-teen Paige often feels ignored by her family. Pastor's-daughter Kate sometimes wishes she was more ignored by people. Paige comes from an affluent family. Kate comes from a paycheck-to-paycheck family. But each girl loves music and is figuring out how to cope with her own set of problems. What could come between their budding friendship? Plenty--including contests, money, good deeds, and immature empathy. The suspense generated between problems and possibilities, between the call of the mall--and other indigenous teenage attractions--and the call of Christ, keeps the reader's nose in this book.

Rising star in romance and teenage genres, author Sandra Byrd adds Chopstick to her Friends For a Season series. Byrd's characterizations, situations, and embroidering of plot, show she has her finger on the female teenager pulse. At the same time, being a Christian mother, she knows what these girls need to learn about the Christian life. Themes in Chopstick include: Christian friendship; family problems; personal Christian growth; deciding the right way to understand problems; honoring and being obedient to parents while still being true to self; and boy/girl relationships. Preteen and teenage Christian girls have enjoyed Byrd's books, and Chopstick will be no exception.

As a teenager's grandparent, I had fun reading this novel. Chopstick is a good introduction to this genre for parents and mentors who have not yet begun to explore what their girls read. – Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

Thirteen-year-olds Paige and Kate find themselves competing for the same worship-music contest and the same $500 prize. Each girl is so sure she will win that each has already promised the prize money to a favorite worthy cause.

Via the contest's Web site, Paige and Kate meet and begin a friendship that will make both girls examine their ideas about their faith and what worship really is. They realize that, like a single chopstick, the body of Christ cannot work well alone.

Each girl decides to share a bit of her strongest gift with the other, thereby increasing the chances that one of them—but only one of them—will win.