Stealing Bradford by Melody Carlson has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine. It is the second book in the “Carter House Girls” series.
Stealing Bradford by Melody Carlson has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine. It is the second book in the “Carter House Girls” series.
The “Carter House Girls” series centers on a boarding house run by a former supermodel, Mrs. Carter. The house is home to teen girls who are interested in fashion and modeling. Among the residents is DJ, Mrs. Carter’s granddaughter. As a new Christian, DJ struggles with finding her identity in Christ, understanding what it really means to be a Christian and why so many Christians do un-Christian things, and making biblically based decisions.
Another girl in the house, Rhiannon, loses her boyfriend, Bradford. He breaks up with her so he can date a different Carter House girl, Taylor. This sends the house in an uproar. Because Rhiannon and Taylor are roommates, DJ offers to trade rooms with Rhiannon. Although Taylor and DJ do not get along, DJ begins to sympathize with her former nemesis.
Doctored Internet photos of Taylor devastate her and prompt Taylor to run away. Meanwhile, the other girls at Carter House realize how much they actually care about Taylor and do something they have never done together — pray for her safe return.
DJ is open about her new decision to follow Christ, and she and her friend Rhiannon discuss matters of faith. Rhiannon teaches DJ that the purpose of prayer is not to tell God what to do, but to get closer to Him. DJ takes a Bible that once belonged to her mother and begins to read and apply what she has read. DJ prays frequently, and she is surprised at how praying changes the way she sees things. DJ encourages the girls of Carter House to gather together in prayer for Taylor, and she is moved by how prayer bonds the girls together. DJ also begins visiting a youth group and a church with Rhiannon, and DJ even asks her boyfriend Connor if he would join her.
DJ learns that being a Christian does not make a person perfect, and knowledge of the faith is more complicated than she thought. Her boyfriend Connor identifies himself as a Christian, but no longer attends church because his family’s pastor had an affair. Casey, the outcast of the Carter House girls, has been reared in a Christian home, yet posts scandalous, doctored photos of Taylor online.
Taylor knows a lot of Bible verses, but does not live according to them. DJ sees that there is more to being a Christian than saying a prayer and reading the Bible.
None
The main authority figure in the book is Mrs. Carter, who runs the boarding house. Mrs. Carter is tied to her schedule of naps and dating “the general” than she is to the girls’ lives. However, she does clearly state her expectations of their behavior, curfew and other boundaries. The girls have a moderate respect for the rules of the house, but Taylor does not feel guilty about breaking curfew. More importantly, Mrs. Carter offers the girls no closeness or mentorship to go with her rules.
The words crap and h—hole are used.
Taylor and Bradford are caught in the back room of his mother’s art museum. Some of the girls say they were “doing it,” but Taylor insists it was just a heavy make-out session. She adds that if they had not been interrupted, it might have gone farther, although she did not think having sex in the back room of a museum would have been a good idea. She later tells DJ that she wants a boyfriend who is interested in her mind, not just interested in her for sex. There is a brief scene where Taylor is in her bra in front of DJ, and DJ wonders if Taylor has implants beneath her lacy bra.
The kids at school believe that the girls P.E. coach is a lesbian and make jokes — using the word dyke — about it. DJ is teased because the coach likes her, and other girls claim that the coach stares at them and that they are uncomfortable in the showers. Similarly, when DJ hugs Casey at school, others call them lesbians and dykes.
Casey posts altered photos online that look like Taylor is making out and being provocative with other girls. She then makes this information public for the whole school to talk about the pictures. There is a brief conversation about whether Taylor is bisexual.
Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books.
You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected].
Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
