E. Anderson's Reviews > OyMG

In Amy Dominy‘s debut tween novel, OYMG, faith and love — or at least “sizzle” — clash in one of the cutest stories I’ve read in a while. Of course, it’s not all cute — the book has some wonderful serious moments as well. In fact, for Ellie Taylor, the speech and debate program she’s attending at a Christian-sponsored summer camp will not only be her first experience with sizzle (what her BFF calls that crush-ing feeling), but also with antisemitism.

Ellie loves to argue. She’s awesome at it, and is determined to win a scholarship that’s awarded every summer at the camp she’s attending, despite her Zeydeh’s warnings that no good can come of a Jewish girl attending a Christian camp. Zeydeh is the Yiddish word for grandfather, and Ellie’s gramps is really proud of his faith. So is Ellie, most of the time. But it’s not easy to be the only Jew at camp. Every morning all the kids pray to Jesus. And in one of the first speech excercises, she’s asked to speak on — of all things — Christmas trees. Ellie isn’t going to let any of this shake her faith. But when Ellie finds out that the sponsor of the highly coveted scholorship — and the grandmother of her crush — might have something against Jews, she finds herself in a bit of a pickle. Should she hider her faith for her chance at her dreams, or speak out and risk everything?