KATY'S HOMECOMING

Katy is continuing her education at a mainstream high school in this follow-up to Katy’s New World (2010). This is a true sequel, relying on the prior books for an introduction to characters and the situation that has Katy, an Old Order Mennonite, trying to function in a more worldly milieu. It is not the classes or schoolwork that provides the conflict here, but the vast difference in social and cultural assumptions and the tug of war between Katy’s family and beliefs with the more typical way of teenagers in the modern world. When Katy is selected to represent the sophomore class as the homecoming attendant, the pull of peers, popularity and the longing to participate grow stronger. Katy’s father is marrying Mrs. Graber, a widow, and he, plus the entire Mennonite community, are distracted by these celebratory preparations, leaving Katy to make her decisions on her own. Readers who enjoyed the first two books or who are intrigued by the moral dilemma between personal choice and adhering to a religious code are clearly the intended audience. (Fiction. 10-15)