The Secret Journal of Brett Colton by Kay Lynn Mangum


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was such a great book!! It dealt with so many issues in this young girl's life, Kathy Colton. Kathy is a 15 year old girl in a family that she cant stand. The thing she cant stand the most is when her family goes off on their nightly tangent of never ending stories of a long passed away brother, Brett. Kathy was two years old when Brett died and doesn't remember him at all and feels left out, unimportant, and annoyed when her family starts talking about him and all the amazing things he did. The only thing about Brett for Kathy is this weird connection she feels somewhere inside her when she looks at his pictures. She cant figure it out. Kathy starts High school and is forced to start tutoring the oh-so-popular-and-handsome Jason West. Jason is a lot like Brett in that Brett and Jason both are some of the youngest QB of the Central High football team. Jason has grown up hearing stories of Brett. Brett even has a plague and picture and trophy in the trophy case at school that Kathy is constantly drawn towards. As Kathy gets to know Jason better, he becomes less and less repulsive to her. Jason struggles with his "cool" image and with just being who he really is. Kathy finds out Jason is a Mormon, and he loves to integrate religious stories into their tutoring sessions as much as he can. On Kathy's sixteenth birthday she receives a very special, unexpected gift from someone she thought she would never, ever know - her big brother Brett. Brett had died of Leukemia 14 years earlier and had written this journal to Kathy so that somehow she could remember him. He had adored her. Brett had also had a Mormon friend who loved to share his religion with him. Throughout Brett's journal and as he gets closer to the impending death that awaits him, he starts to study the religion and read the Book of Mormon and to feel that it is true. He tells of dreams he has about Kathy when she is older and she begins to dream of him too. Brett, Jason, and Kelly (Brett's High school friend) help Kathy to find herself, her family, and God. Now that she understands and knows the person that Brett was and that she will see him again someday, she helps her family through the pain that they are still suffering with. She helps Jason also in being brave enough to stand up to his friends, and reunites Kelly with her family and with Brett by letting him and her family read the journal too. This is a very sweet and inspiring story of Family, love, Faith, and growing up. I absolutely loved it, it meant a lot to me! This book has 334 pages.

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