Starred Review Rachel is the second oldest girl in a family that has been amply blessed with 10 children. Her life is filled with helping homeschool the younger kids, keeping house, attending services at the Calvary Christian Church, and otherwise preparing for life as a good Christian wife. In all this activity, Rachel manages to hide a secret passion for reading and a frustration with prayer. When her mother lapses into a depression after a miscarriage, and her father forbids her to read, Rachel wonders if she will be able to endure the long, dutiful years stretching out for the rest of her life. Then Lauren, an older girl who had been banished from the church community, returns to town. After an exchange of e-mails, Rachel is intrigued by Lauren, particularly when Lauren cites a quote from a Mary Oliver poem: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / With your one wild and precious life?" With the same frankness used in her debut, The Truth about Alice (2014), Mathieu sensitively depicts Rachel as she grapples with myriad aspects of her religious confusion. This thoughtful, character-driven study of one girl's struggle to reconcile her strict, conservative Christian upbringing with the modern secular world is an exceptionally nuanced treatment of religious choice.

Gr 6 Up-Traditional patriarchal belief systems stress that girls should be under the control of their fathers until they marry at very young ages and are then placed under the control of their husbands. Rachel Walker, a Born Again Christian teen, is one of 10 children whose family follows this plan until something from the outside world tugs within her. Rachel learns that Lauren Sullivan, a girl who escaped from this community a few years ago, is back in town working at an animal hospital. Through emails, Rachel finds that she and Lauren share similar radical ideas. Lauren sends the protagonist a line from a poem by Mary Oliver, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do/With your one wild and precious life?" This haunting question gives Rachel no peace, but she knows that the answer for her is not to follow in her mother's footsteps. When a neighbor tells Mr. Walker that Rachel was seen at the animal hospital, he decides to send her to a religious retreat that will reprogram her to become obedient again. This proves to be too much for Rachel and she gets Lauren to rescue her. Rachel's courage allows her to follow a new destiny that will honor her precious life. Many teens will have no difficulty in rejecting the strict tenets of Rachel's faith. Readers will be drawn into her anguish even though the outcome will come as no surprise. VERDICT Devoted chronicles that calling to pursue one's heart's desire, a feeling that most teens will connect with and understand. Lillian Hecker, Town of Pelham Public Library, NY