National Network for Equitable Library Service

Carla Funk is a teenager with her hands on the church piano keys and her feet edging toward the flames. Coming of age in a remote valley town-a place rich in Mennonites, loggers, and dutiful wives who submit to their husbands-she knows her destiny is to marry, have babies, and join the church ladies' sewing circle. In her world, the body is hidden in shame, the lines between the sexes are strictly drawn, and the wrong thoughts can tip you over into sin. But increasingly, she wants to push the limits: of her family, her religion, and the little town that can't contain her desires for much longer. In poignant and hilarious stories, Funk chronicles her 1980s adolescence in all its awkward glory: from summer Bible camp to forbidden school dances, from questionable makeovers to hair-raising pranks. Through it all runs the longing to make her life into a new and different story, as she asks the questions we all must face about where we come from and who we want to be. At once an affectionate coming-of-age tale and a contemplation on meaning, morality, and destiny, Mennonite Valley Girl is about the places we all long to escape-even if they are the same places that define us.