The Miracle Girls: A Novel [Paperback]

The Miracle Girls is written entirely in Ana's voice. As the mother of a 14 year-old I can vouch for the fact that the narrative voice is very authentic. It is sarcastic, intelligent, and distinctly teenaged. Reading The Miracle Girls feels like eavesdropping on a teenage girl's conversation with her best friend.

Ana is a unique teen. Her parents immigrated from Mexico shortly after her birth. Her father is a lawyer, and apparently a very successful one because Ana wants for nothing in the material sense. She lives in a mansion and her mother spends her days redecorating the new house with the assistance of an interior designer. They employ a live-in cook-slash-housekeeper, and shop at Bloomingdales and Nordstrom. For a 14 year-old, Ana is only mildly rebellious, especially considering that her parents are extremely strict. Ana has her sights set on a medical degree from Princeton and needs to graduate high school first in her class in order to secure admission to the Ivy League.

Current culture references abound in this book. Ana talks about iPods, email, instant messaging, Google searches, Nutter Butters and Vera Wang. Again, this adds to the authenticity of the story while giving it a distinctly contemporary feel.

One of the more interesting aspects of this book is how the pressures of high school are depicted. Of course, there is peer pressure. Ana wants to fit in with the popular crowd, but she is different, mainly due to her Christian faith. Lucky for her, she finds two very good friends relatively quickly in her new school, and meets several other friends (and, eventually, a boyfriend) in her church youth group.

The authors also dealt with academic pressures, which we've heard a lot about in the media in the past year or two. Ana felt that she needed to be first in her class in order to get admitted to Princeton. The pressure was strong and constant. Her extra-curricular activities were carefully orchestrated in light of the college application process. As a freshman in high school, Ana and her parents were already thinking in terms of 'key differentiators' and how having a 'passion' would look good on her application.

The Miracle Girls is so much more than a story about a group of high school friends. Although it is full of likeable characters, it is really about Ana ... how she found a few good friends in a new school, and how in the end that turned out to be enough, and maybe even better than being part of the 'in' crowd. It is about how she balanced having a life in high school with having huge dreams for the future. It is about how she embraced her cultural roots even though at least one of her parents seemed a little embarrassed by them. And it was about respecting parents and rules and boundaries, and at the same time becoming a person who can both ask for and handle increased freedom.

Born in Mexico, Ana Dominguez was a baby when her parents left and moved to San Jose, a `real' city as she called it. They lived there for years and Ana was happy with her friends in her old school. Now, since her dad decided to move the family to Half Moon Bay, California she's feeling like an outcast at this new school. And if that's not bad enough, things aren't any better at home because her parents are very strict. She's not allowed to ride in cars with boys. She's not allowed to have a cell phone. She's not allowed to go to school dances. How's a teenage girl supposed to make friends with so many rules? Or make friends after she snitches on the most popular girl in school?

Ana chose to speak up in class when she should have remained silent and her choice got her into trouble. During detention she and the other students were given an assignment and she found out that she had something in common with some of the girls in her class. One of the girl's, Zoe, didn't think it was a coincidence that they shared similar experiences; she felt that she, Ana, Christine and Riley had been thrown together for a reason. Soon after, Ana, Zoe and Christine called themselves 'The Miracle Girls' - they are here for purpose; they just needed to figure out what that purpose was. Zoe also had to figure out how she was going to get Riley to join. Not that Ana was sure she wanted the most popular girl in school to be included.

Ana: She's a freshman in high school, wears Christian T-shirts and some students call her `God Girl'. She's an intelligent girl and hopes to become class valedictorian. Because of something she went through when she was a baby, she believes that God called her to save others so she wants to go to Princeton and eventually become a doctor. Even though I felt she was too critical of others at times in her thinking, I liked Ana. She was insightful, honest and witty. I especially liked how she thought of just the right Scripture when she was worried about something, because she knew it would bring her peace.

Ana's parents: They wanted the best for their daughter. I liked how much they cared about her education - not just high school, but looking ahead to college; they wanted to see to it that Ana had a good future. Although they were too strict in some cases, I liked that they didn't want her to have a boyfriend at her age. Fourteen is not grown and boyfriends can be a distraction. But then again, since, according to their culture, she would be seen as a woman at age fifteen, I was a bit confused about some of the decisions they made.

Riley: A cheerleader with a super genius math brain. This girl is intelligent enough to be accepted into an Ivy League school. I liked that because it seems most times cheerleaders are seen as airheads.

Christine: She wasn't concerned about appearances and she certainly wasn't out to impress anyone. She kept me wondering what hair color she was going to choose next.

Zoe: She's into music, plays the piccolo. She has a love for God and the color lavender, she's not quick to speak unkindly of others and she loves to eat snacks. Her parents seemed to be a little `out there' spiritually and in other ways, so I was glad that she joined in on Ana's church youth group.

Amongst The Miracle Girls, I found Christine to be the one I was most interested in; I felt for her because of her home life. However, the story as a whole - Dave Brecht stood out more than any other. He was a nice guy, caring and full of life. He's a Christian teen who knows The Word and, when the need arose, he would explain Scripture to other teens without one bit of shame. No, he doesn't tote a Bible wherever he goes or quote Scripture to his peers uninvited, but anyone in his presence would know He loves God, because he let his light shine. He had a thing for ties, which I thought was unique and cute. He cared about people and it seemed he had a special place in his heart for the elderly. And he doesn't hold a grudge. Dave is an extremely likable character. It's always nice to be introduced to a guy like him in young adult fiction.

The Miracle Girls was an okay read that I began to like more somewhere around the middle, and I learned a bit. For instance, when a Latino girl turns fifteen, there is a big celebration that acknowledges her transition from childhood to womanhood; it's called a quinceanera. The planning and shopping for the quinceanera dress and the discussions Ana had with her mother, it was all interesting.

There is nothing preachy about this Christian teen novel. The story is realistic and the characters are believable. Like I mentioned before, I liked Miracle Girl Ana, however, I plan to buy the next book because I want to learn more about Miracle Girl Christine.

This is the first book in the Miracle Girls series. The four Miracle Girls were thrown together when they all unfortunately landed in detention. There they had to write an essay titled, "The Day That Changed My Life," after which they find the bond of all having escaped an almost certain death. Two of them feel drawn to the spiritual significance of their second chance at life. While two are less inclined to faith but still drawn to the other girls through the connection.

This first book is written in the voice of Ana, who miraculously survived a serious heart deformity as an infant. Ana's parents are strict, which I related to. But they don't seem to expect Ana to understand the reasons behind their rules and in fact seem convinced that she will fail. This leads to a troubling relationship with her parents, and Ana finds herself outside of their rules on more than one occasion. Ana's faith gets her mocked at school, but is strong enough not to falter. There is at least one scene in her church where the personal connection she feels to her faith is very evident and poignant.

Although I didn't personally relate to Ana very well (my parents were strict as well, but I was very close with them), she was very real and I immediately sympathized with her voice and situation. I look forward to reading the other characters' stories and watching the friendship grow.

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