You know, I really cannot remember the last time I read an entire book in a day. I'm usually extremely sensitive to the fact when I'm reading not just for enjoyment, but because there's really nothing else to do...in fact, as soon as I become too aware of the fact that reading is the only thing I have to occupy my time, I put the book down. It's that obligation thing again...it messes with my head every time.

But that's really beside the point at the moment. All I really wanted to say is that for the fist time in a long while, I plowed through an entire book (albeit a kind of short one...it was no 800 page Harry Potter book or anything) almost in one sitting last night. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams is one of the books I got while I was at NCTE. I'm really not good at talking about a story's plot without giving too much away, so all I'll say is that it's about a 13-year-old girl (Kyra Leigh Carlson) living in a polygamist compound who has been "chosen" to become her 60-year-old uncle's seventh wife. Wow...in addition to the extremely fast-paced and heart wrenching story, Kyra's character so accurately portrays the thoughts and feelings of a young teenager--the complicated mixture of her bold determination to search for truth, her steadfast devotion and love to her family, the guilt of her "sins", and her desperate need to escape a community that thrives on obedience born out of fear.

Here's the thing though...this isn't just a story from one author's overactive imagination. While the specific events and characters from this book are fictional, polygamist cults are very real, brainwashing their members into doing unspeakable evil. Check out this article from fox news: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346959,00.html . That was in 2008...a little too recent to simply ignore, don't you think?

It makes me so grateful for our God who is good, merciful, righteous, full of unfailing love and compassion. Others may try to manipulate His word, but in the end, Truth will always win out.