Customer Reviews

Katy's New World (The Katy Lambright Series, Book 1)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Kim Vogel Sawyer's books, and this book was no exception! Katy Lambright is a young mennonite girl without a mother and is in essence, trying to find herself. She gets permission to attend a public high school, and makes some new friends there. Kim makes the character of Katy act as any normal teenager with conflicts and adventures. I like Katy. She has spunk, and determination as well as Christian values.
The book is a very good read. I will save it for my two daughters to read when they get old enough, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone--not just the younger audience.

Ok first before we even start, I need to mention this is NOT a book about the Amish. Yes I know the girl on the front looks Amish, but she is not. She is Mennonite which, while similar, is quite different in what they believe and how they act.

This book is quite unique because for the first time (that I can remember) a teen character who normally shuns the outside way of life choosing to live in that life. Katy is from a strict Mennonite family but is allowed to pursue her dream of higher education by attending the public high school in her area. I found this to be quite interesting as normally most characters who come from strict lifestyle usually give up and return home by the end of the first book. The story doesn't mention which sect Katy's family is in but from what I gathered in the book they appear to be quite conservative than most other Mennonites. Other books I've read that features Mennonite vs. Amish shows the Mennonites as being practically English other than their dress and what they believe. In this book, it's mentioned that Katy's dad has a truck but other than that I didn't really see what made them different from the Amish other than actual religious beliefs.

What makes this book stand out for me was the fact that Katy was NOT portrayed a goody two shoes. Even though she almost always obeys her father and abides by the rules of her community, she does not act passive and reject every unknown idea. For the most part, Katy asks like a regular teen and shows that even though she will always be different there are parts of her that just wants to fit in. Also even if she can't say things because she knows that she would get in trouble, her thoughts are a different matter which really make things more realistic. Basically the story allows Katy to be both Mennonite and a normal teen and shows equal balance without upsetting either party.

I felt like this book was targeted at younger teens but older teens will enjoy it as well. I think this book was more of an introduction to the characters as well as Katy getting a first taste of the outside world. Perhaps in future books she'll be faced with more difficult challenges that everyday teens face. It will be interesting to see what her Mennonite perspective will be. I will also find it interesting as to what will happens when tougher school subjects are introduced, like using computer research at home or if we get to the point of Katy graduating and what will happen next. As it stands, I have great hopes for this series and am looking forward to future books.

Katy embarks on a new world when she leaves her small old order mennonite school to attend public high school. She faces scorn and ignorance of her and her lifestyle, yet her desire to learn more overcomes that as she bravely faces her new world. Her father faces some of the same things, but in a different way as he remembers when Katy's mother abandoned them for a different lifestyle. This book expresses well some of the reasons why parents are strict at times and how even though there are differences in lifestyles, many times they are more the same than you realize. This was a nice short story, written for teen girls, but I think girls ages 10-14 would enjoy it. It is nice to see a story where a girl wishes to respect her father, but has normal temptations to do anything but.
This book is about an old order mennonite girl, while similar to Amish in many ways, it is very different. Also, very different than most Mennonites as well, who generally always complete high school.

I picked this up as a Kindle freebie; otherwise I'd never have read it since I read little YA fiction outside of fantasy/SF stuff, and I have no interest in Christian fiction. But I always have been curious about the Amish and didn't know that any Amish youth would ever attend public school, so I wanted to check this book out.

It tells the story of Katy, an Amish girl who has reached the age when her compatriots finish with school and leave the one-room schoolhouse where they were educated to that point (approximately 8-9th grade). Katy's intelligence and passion to learn lead her to request to continue on in high school, and her father and the church elders give conditional permission, as long as her exploration does not lead her astray from her faith.

The rest of the book covers Katy's first months in school, where her strange clothes and restrictions on behavior make it hard for her to fit in or make friends. But slowly she befriends a few people but as she does, her new friends and experiences seem to be harming her relationships with her Amish friends she has known since childhood. How Katy begins to balance this out and weathers the first crises is the bulk of this book; her story will continue to other books, apparently.

Despite it being a topic and a type of fiction far outside my interests, I did find the story compelling and read the whole thing in an evening. For parents wanting their kids to read specifically Christian materials in their fiction, this would be a good choice. And even for kids who aren't into Christian fiction, the Amish grounding of the religious materials still make it an interesting read nonetheless, and in Katy they will see a reflection of the universal struggles teens face in fitting in and dealing with peer pressure.

I liked this book, being partial to books that allow me insight into a different culture. I felt that this book gave enough details and explanations as to the Mennonite way of life that made it interesting without feeling like a documentary. The Christian aspect was well done--the message was strong without feeling preachy (a very difficult task for Christian literature), and the characters were plausible. I would have liked to see Katy struggle a bit more with culture shock at the public high school--aside from not knowing what a "semester" was and not wearing blue jeans, she seemed to fit right in quickly enough. The reason I didn't rate it as five stars is that right when the story gets going, the book ends. I didn't realize that it was the first in a SERIES until just now when I found the book to write a review, so that would explain it. Prepare to sign on for the series or to be left dissatisfied with all the loose ends. If you can get the Kindle free edition it's well worth an afternoon to read.

Katy's New World by Kim Vogel Sawyer


This is the first book in Kim Vogel Sawyer's Young Adult Amish fiction series, the Katy Lambright Series.

In Katy's New World we meet Katy Lambright, who is a young girl, a devout member of her Mennonite community. The only difference between Katy and other members of her community is she desires to go further in school than Mennonite schools usually go. So, Katy gets special permission to attend a nearby Englisch school, but not without worry from her community.

High school is a tough enough time without being automatically viewed as an outsider or "different" like Katy is. She has to learn to navigate a world filled with technology, loud sounds, judgmental people who whisper about her, and more.

Will Katy survive this huge change? Will she find a way to make friends or will she remain an outcast? And will the ways of the Englisch world change her, and threaten her status in her Mennonite community?

Read Katy's New World to find out!

While this may be classified as young adult fiction, I really didn't feel like the work was juvenile like I have with other young adult fiction. I think the series accurately portrays what a huge change it would be to go from an enclosed Mennonite world to the open Englisch world. I think changing high schools alone at that age would have been awful, but to come from such a unique background would only compound the difficulty.

I really felt like I could understand Katy and her struggles. It was also cute how naive she was, but made sense because of the sheltered background she came from. It made her very believable, and very sweet.

While it may be a young adult series, I think any Amish fiction lover would enjoy this book and this series!

4.5 out of 5 stars!

This was such a sweet book that I bought on a whim because it was on sale for the Kindle. And now I'm addicted to Katy and her world. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. It is such innocent, wonderful reading. I hope to find copies in paperback for my classroom for the students that are into or want to know more about religion.

Katy is a very brave young girl who loves learning so much she obtains permission from her Mennonite group to attend a public high school. This has never before been done in her community. Not only does she have to navigate the already rough waters of high school, she does so as someone who is very different from the other students in the way she lives, dresses, and worships. I could not put the book down and wanted to know what Katy would do next.

I had read one of the author's adult books before, and it was just as wonderful. The author creates complex characters and situations that really make the reader think and ask "what if I was in the same situation?" I liked that the book came with questions at the back for the readers. It will help everyone get more out of the story.

This is a good book written for young teen girls. The fictional story is well written with just enough religion to not be preachy. I enjoyed the story and would recommend the book.

I read a lot of Amish-themed books,and thoroughly enjoyed this author's other Mennonite series the Sommerfield Trilogy,so I was expecting to really like this one as well. However,I had to force myself to finish reading this small book. I didn't like the characters at all,and especially could not stand Katy's Mennonite best friend Annika or her detestable Aunt Rebecca! The Christian girl Shelby from school who is the one who is to help Katy get oriented with her new school,and her family are the most likeable characters in the story.

Don't care about these characters and found the story uninteresting, so I won't be reading the others.

For a really engaging story about a young Amish girl I recommend Love Finds You In Charm,Ohio.Love Finds You in Charm, Ohio. That was a 5-star read for me.

This was a sweet book that depicts a Mennonite girl living in both her world and through school the "English" world and how she deals with both. I found this book to be very sweet and honest as well as a breath of fresh air.