Godless by Pete Hautmann

Pete Hautman is speaking at the library on October 18th. This book won the young people's National Book Award in 2004. A teenage boy's father insists that he participate in a church youth group though the boy has begun to question the existence of God. The kid is kind of a pain in the way he responds to the leader of the group. He invents his own religion and recruits a few members. One of the acts the group performs is to climb the water tower and swim inside as a sort of baptism. This of course causes great problems. A couple of the kids are hurt by the religion, one who believes way too seriously and one who falls. We don't get to read about teens questioning their faith often enough but it happens frequently. This is worth the read.
jdw 8/12/06