The Faithgirlz! Bible

The Faithgirlz! Bible
Nancy Rue
ZonderKidz
ISBN: 0310710022
Non-Fiction, Young Adult, Christian
Reviewed by John Clark

Is there a better known or more widely read book than the bible? Probably not, but for teens, particularly those whose reading skills are not as good as they should be, reading traditional bibles might be well down their list of things to do.
Zonderfan Publishing's childrens group has published what may be the perfect answer to part of that dilemma. Their softcover Faithgirlz! Bible features bible text with footnotes. However, they have added something that will most certainly be a hit with teen girls seeking the spiritual path as well as those already on that path. Sprinkled throughout the 60 pages of scripture are exercises to bring home what is contained within the text as well as 'Dream Girl' and 'Oh, I Get It' exercises that allow the reader to look at certain passages from a teen perspective. Nancy Rue has done an excellent job of describing portions of scriptural text in ways that young teen girls can easily understand.
For example, she starts her description of Genesis thusly: "The beginning is always a good place to start, and Genesis is all about beginnings, sort of like the world's baby book." Later on her 'Oh, I Get It' relating to why God got so mad about the Tower of Babel, provides readers with the following insight: "It wasn't just any tower. It was a ziggurat. Its sides didn't go straight up like the average tower. They were in the form of steps, supposedly leading up to heaven where people thought they could be like God. God said, "I don't think so!" Since the people spoke one language, they could cook up even more ways to rebel together. So God confused them by giving them different languages. The word babble (similar to Babel) means to "to talk nonsense." That day it must have sounded like an entire universe full of babble!"
Such descriptions this one, as well as exercises that can be done quickly and privately by teen readers give this particular bible strong appeal to an age group that is often at risk of taking the wrong path. It will be interesting to see if the publisher is up to the even greater challenge of doing a version geared to young male teens.