​In her book And the Bride Wore White, Dannah Gresh helps teen girls break down lies that many of us believe about sexuality and reveals seven “secrets” for living a life of sexuality purity. Through understanding these lies and presenting these keys to pursuing purity, Gresh is able to offer foundation truths about the way that God designed sex. The updated edition includes additional information on understanding purity, “celebration stories” of young women successes or redeemed failures in their pursuit of purity, and some letters directly at readers with specific struggles. While this book does have some great content and biblical truth, it falls into some of the pit falls of many of the teachings of the purity movement of the 90’s/2000’s. This book does a great job of helping readers understand that sex is a beautiful gift from God that we should wait until the right time and place to use. It also does a great job at addressing lies many of us believe about sex and offering practical tips to help readers live in purity. One of my favorite parts is its emphasis on purity embracing the wise guidance of parents, grandparents, and mentors, since that is something that many young people struggle to do. Overall, it has some great insights to help young women pursue sexual purity.

However, this book does have some issues. One of the “secrets” she suggest to achieve purity is to envision a godly husband, even suggesting that you should write down in a journal a description of your future husband. While I believe a young woman should figure out the qualities he wants in a future husband, the way that she suggests doing the exercise implies that you should even write down exactly how you expect him to look. Doing this exercise as a teen fueled different lies than addressed in the book. First, God often surprises us by doing things in His time and His way. It often doesn’t match up with what we picture for ourselves, especially when we get caught up in trivial details like his eye color or favorite movie. We aren’t even guaranteed a husband. We should instead be teaching young women to look at young men for their godly characteristics, like how responsible they are with money or how they treat their family.

This book also tends to struggle with leaving those who have failed in their pursuit of purity feeling like unforgivable because of the high emphasis on virginity. We need to make sure that young women understand that premarital sex, other types of sexual immorality, and abortion are not unforgiveable sins that make you “damaged goods.” Instead, if you do the work of repentance in those areas, they can can become scars that God can redeem for His glory and even turn into your greatest ministry to help others. One of the reasons young women struggle with confessing sexual sin is because there is so much shame associated with other people know their struggles. They will be more likely to open up about their struggles if we help them understand that redemption is their sexual past is possible.

I am grateful for what I learned from this book as a teen, and believe that even though some of the content has flaws, it could still have value for teens today, especially as a way to introduce purity to older pre-teen girls. Get your copy today.

​After reviewing Ruth, I was so excited to hear that Dannah was continuing this series. Her Bible studies are always well done, and this was no exception. I appreciate all the work that her ministry True Girl does to help tween girls navigate their journey to adulthood in a God-honoring way. While I do have one disagreement with one of the teachings in the book, I do still feel that this book is a great Bible study resource for tween girls ~ Bethel

Courage is a word that we say often but many of us struggle to understand. While many of us want it, we also are unsure of exactly what it is and how we obtain it. This can be especially true for pre-teen girls on the road to becoming young women. They often find themselves facing fears they don’t know how to overcome and feel they can never face them head-on. It makes them ask the question: how can I learn to be a courageous girl?

In the Bible study Miriam: Becoming a Girl of Courage, author Dannah Gresh breaks down and walks through the life of Miriam and her brother Moses to help tween girls see how they can become courageous young women in our world today. Through this five-week study, pre-teen girls will take a look at how stories from the life of Miriam illustrate aspects of courage. Within the content of the clever use of graphics, fill-in-the-blanks, space for underlining Scripture, puzzles, and relevant illustrations, girls will be drawn into the story of Miriam, since it is presented in a way that is palatable to their age. Through it all, they will learn that the true mark for courage is not the absence of fear, but instead is choosing to do the right thing even when it’s hard.

However, there was one minor biblical discrepancy. When discussing Hebrews 11:25, which states that Moses “chose to be mistreated with the people of God,” (NIV), Dannah concluded that Moses must have chosen to give up his royalty to become a slave, and that it was while he was a slave himself that he killed the Egyptian. But there is nothing in either the Old or New Testament that supports this interpretation. In fact, Exodus 2:11 states that it was while Moses was watching his people in their hard labor that he noticed the Egyptian beating on the Hebrew. While I can see how someone could jump to the same conclusion as Dannah by reading that verse out of context, a simple examination of the original narrative in Exodus quickly disproves this interpretation.

Aside from this biblical discrepancy, I still think that this is a great Bible study for pre-teen girls. Get your copy today

* I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review

To read my review of the True Girl Bible Study Ruth, click here

To see other reviews of books written for tween girls, click here

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Loyalty is sometimes hard to understand and is often hard to practice. When we get into difficult situations, we tend to want to look out for ourselves or do what’s best for us instead of sticking by someone going through a hard time. We sometimes let our fears and worries get the best of us when it comes to following through. It seems to be the way of the world that tween and teen girls are growing up in. This makes many of these girls ask the question: Does God want me to be loyal, even when it’s hard?
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In her new True Girl Bible Study, Ruth: Becoming a Girl of Loyalty, Dannah Gresh breaks down and walks through the story of Ruth to help tween girls learn how to understand and practice biblical loyalty in our world today. With the clever use of graphics, fill-in-the-blanks, space for underlining Scriptures, puzzles, and examples relevant to them, girls will be engaged as the story of Ruth is presented to them in style and format that is palatable for their age. They are given tools to help them understand what the Scriptures say so they can figure out how to apply it to their lives. Through it all, girls will be reminded that when as they learn what it means to be loyal, God will always be loyal to us because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. If you have a daughter age 7-12, this is the perfect study for her. Get her a copy today!

* I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review

To read my review of Dannah Gresh's book Lies Girls Believe, click here
To read my review of Dannah Gresh's book True Girl, click here

The release of this book had me quite excited. Not only are the other books in this series excellent, but I know that if anyone knows how to connect with and relate to tween girls, it’s Dannah Gresh. This book is an incredible resource to parents and youth leaders that work with tween girls. And I believe this book to be a game changer. It will be amazing to see a group of girls grow up that will have the opportunity to read this book as tween, Lies Young Women Believe as teenagers, and Lies Women Believe as adults. Because the younger we are when we learn to replace lies with the truth, the stronger the next generation will become in standing up for the truth and therefore impacting their world with that truth and the love of Christ. Therefore, I cannot recommend this book or this whole series enough! ~ Bethel

Lies. They are all around us. No matter where we go in our world today, we cannot escape them. And it seems that they are being fed to us at younger ages. Lies about who we are. Lies about who we should become. Lies about the people around us. It makes it hard for kids to grow up in a world where lies are being presented as truth with no way to figure out what truth really is. This seems especially true for girls, with the pressures to be beautiful, smart, and popular. If they are unable to learn the truth when they are kids, they will build their life on lies that will be so much harder to detangle when they are older. It makes us ask the question: how can we help girls today learn the truth that will set them free?

In her book, Lies Girls Believe, Dannah Gresh, along with help from editor Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth, walks through lies that tween girls struggle to believe and help them discover the truth that will set them free. In this colorful book with fun illustrations, these girls are given tools to help them figure out how to recognize lies and the “sticky feelings” of guilt that come when we buy into lies. After walking through the nature of lies and where they came from, Dannah addresses 20 lies that are believed by many tween girls (based on surveys of tween girls, and their moms and grandmas). She tells each truth and addresses the lie that is usually believed instead, helping them see that truth really is the better choice. Each of these chapters concludes with a “truth lab” where girls can “test” these truths in their lives. Dannah concludes by showing them ways to figure out other lies in their life so they can replace them with truth. All of this is done in a relatable writing style that will allow the girls to feel like Dannah is their friend and mentor they trust. They are plenty of opportunity to journal and use color pencils to make the book all the more relatable.

​This book is powerful and will be a game changer for the tween girls of this generation that choose to read it and take to heart what it says. I personally recommend this book for any tween girl between the age of 9-13 years old. Girls and their moms should get their copy today!
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Moms, make sure to check out A Mom’s Guide to Lies Girls Believe, written just to help you help your daughter on this journey.

* I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review

​When I first heard this book was coming out last year, I was so excited. The original book Secret Keeper for teens is one of my all-time favorite books and since the author Dannah had developed a ministry to tween girls, I figured that this book would come along eventually. I was very excited to buy it and read it. In the end, I was not disappointed. Dannah’s heart for helping young women understand their God-given power of modesty is evident on every page. But I really enjoyed getting to see the older material I was familiar with was adapted to a younger audience. She uses different illustrations and metaphors to speak to the younger girls. She has a little bit different line of logic to help them understand the motivation behind modesty. The devotional companion even includes a coloring experience. But the heart between all of these books remains the same, and that makes it an excellent resource to tween girls, their parents, and even their youth leaders. If you haven’t checked this out, then you should. ~ Bethel

Modesty is a difficult concept to teach to young women in our world today. We are surrounded by a culture that tells us that when it comes to clothes, “less is more.” And this idea is being pushed upon us at a younger age than ever before. Even t-shirts for preschool girls are designed to accentuate a figure that they don’t even have yet. Girls are being convinced that they can wear whatever they want whenever they want, and if anyone restricts that, it’s infringing on their rights. It makes it difficult for those of us that want better for these girls. We struggle with how to communicate to them the importance of the way they present themselves. It makes us ask the question: how can we teach the importance of modesty to young girls today?

​In her book, True Girl, Dannah Gresh adapts her material on modesty for older teens and addresses it on the level for tween girls. In a book of fun illustrations, both in visual and written forms, Dannah helps the girls understand their value as a unique masterpiece created by God and they our understanding of how much God loves us should motivate our desire to dress modestly. She also talks about what makes a girl truly beautiful, not by what is on the outside, but what is on the inside. She addresses issues that so many parents struggle to talk about with their daughters, but she does so in a totally tasteful and age-appropriate way. She gives fashion tests to help girls determine if an outfit is appropriate. Dannah even shares examples are stories about girls their own age to make their journey more relatable.

​If you are a girl about 7-11, you want to ask for a copy of this book. If you are a parents of a tween girl, you need to get this book. Even if you are a youth leader, you need to check out this book. Girls and adults alike will be grateful with the help and perspective this book provides. Girls and their moms with also love the corresponding mother-daughter devotional guide, which includes a coloring experience and an awesome letter to the moms. I cannot recommend either of these books enough. Get your copies today!

(To check out my review of the teen edition of this book and its devotional guide, click here)