As much as I enjoyed “Julie and Julia,” I sometimes get wary of “stunt blogging.” The idea of trying to do some strange or unusual thing (and documenting it the whole way) in order to make a statement about something. Things get even more complicated when this is combined with social justice. It can be difficult to tell sometimes what the “awareness” is actually being raised towards (e. g., ice bucket challenge).

But I appreciate Bethany Winz’s (pre-ice-bucket-challenge) take on this, because she at least had the maturity to admit that the conflict is there. When she was 16, she decided to wear the same dress every day for a year, in order to raise awareness (and funds) for victims of human trafficking. The idea being that victims do not have choices, and this project would, in some small way, show her and others what it’s like to let go of one of the choices we get every day.

This is a quick read, and most of the book involves the things she did during this challenge–speaking about it to different groups, finding accessories to vary her look, enduring health problems, growth pains, and insecurities. In some ways it is a refreshingly honest look at doing a “challenge” like this. This book would probably appeal very well to teenage homeschoolers like her, especially those who also liked the book “Do Hard Things.”

One of my favorite quotes came as she summed up her project at the end:

“I now realize that taking a stand for justice doesn’t have to involve a big, dramatic, gesture intended to change the entire world. Maybe it’s something much smaller–righting wrongs one relationship at a time. I’ve found that discovering who I am has much less to do with impressing people and much more to do with living a life of faithfulness wherever God has placed me.”

I think this is a very valuable lesson to take away from this, especially in our image-obsessed society, and I appreciate her willingness to be honest.

I also appreciated the tidbits and facts shared about human trafficking and the different organizations that are doing something about it.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Baker Books through the Baker Books Bloggers www.bakerbooks.com/bakerbooksbloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/wa….