Conviction, Kelly Loy-Gilbert

Conviction, Kelly Loy Gilbert 342 pages

   This is one of the better YA novels I have read recently, and it covers a lot of ground thematically.  The story revolves around Braden, a high school baseball pitcher poised to be drafted into the minors after senior year, and his father, a conservative Christian radio host on trial for murder. Gilbert does a nice job of setting up a suspenseful plot as well as fleshing out Braden's character, as his musings and thought process are believable. As a reader, you want to shake Braden out of certain modes of thinking, and if this was a movie, I would be yelling at the screen.  The other characters aren't as compelling and their interactions with Braden feel stiff. I kept asking myself if people would really treat other this way in real-life. If you don't like baseball, and passages about someone's relationship to God, then this book is not for you. I enjoyed the difficult topics the book tackled, and would recommend this to our teens.