What Happened to Cass McBride--Gail Giles and Born Blue--Han Nolan

I've been a reading freak lately, so I'm combining two of the books I've read into one post. I'll keep it short and sweet, and unfortunately, that means not getting into very much detail, but sometimes that's for the best.

What Happened to Cass McBride
This story totally freaked me out! In order to discuss, I need to give one major spoiler: She's buried alive.

Now, I won't go into details about how or why or if she gets out. I'll leave that to your own reading to discover the answers, but this book brought up one major point. That is how often we blame others.

For anyone to bury another person alive, there has to be some amount of psychological disconnect. This book takes that to the extreme.  Yes, we can all name the horrible things that happened to us in the past, but does that excuse us from acting responsible?  Does that give us a reason to blame others or worse, act out on that blame? No, of course not. No matter what trials we endure, we must learn from them. Sure, it's not fair.  Life never is.  Of course there should be justice for the injustices of this world, but is it up to us to deal out those justices?

I'm continually thankful for a God who I know will bring justice to those who wait on him to act. In the mean time, I'll learn from the horrible things that continually happen in this world, and I'll work hard to make my little corner of it a nicer place to be.

Born Blue
From page one, I was hooked on this novel. First, it starts with such a strong voice I had to keep reading. A young girl in an abusive foster home believes deep inside that she is part African American. (She's not.) Her speech sways with an uneducated slang making it a little difficult to read until you get used to it but definitely adds to the character.

This story traces this young girls life from foster care to being kidnapped by her heroin addicted mother and sold to another couple. She runs away from everyone, including those who try to help. Her life is a series of bad choices and she takes a ride on the stereotypical drug addict, teen pregnancy road. Yet, even through some of those stereotypical aspects, I felt a kernel of truth. It was honest.

The entire time I was hoping that she'd realize along the way that people do care.  Not everyone is willing to sell her off, but just as with real people, she was blinded to those who truly care.  I think back to the many times that I've seen friends and family members reach out to the lost only to be disregarded, or even worse, attacked. Such is the way with humans.  I wonder how many times I've done that.  I mean, how many times have I rejected someone who was just trying to help?

On the other side of the story are the people reaching out, knowing that they were taking a chance with this messed up girl.  But they did it. They saw in her a talent or a spark of something good.  What inspiration for us.  They were stolen from, hurt and accused of lies, yet they still were willing to try.

What an amazing lesson for us to learn. No matter what the results, we should still try.  It's our job to reach out to those who need it. So I ask you, are you reaching out?