Publication Date: September 2011
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Genre: Bible
Pages: Hardcover,1520pp
ISBN-13: 9780800720162
ISBN: 0800720164
(Received for an honest review from Revell Books)
Purchase: Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Christianbook.com
Hayley DiMarco on the WEB: website, facebook, twitter
God Girl Website
Introductory Video featuring Hayley DiMarco:
Features:
- Soft White/Pretty Pink Tree Design Duravella
- Customizable Cover
- Book Introductions, Author Info, Time, Place, Written To, The Gist (summary), Things to look for
- Must Know Facts, Terms and Verses (for each book)
- Know This Devotionals (application)
- Prayers
- Ask Yourself (questions to get you thinking)
- God Girl Stories (life experiences)
- Glossary, Quick Relief (where to find things)
- Spiritual Self Check
- Bible Reading Plans
- Subject Index
Thoughts:
As you can see from the list of features this isn't your typical girl's Bible. Bestselling author Hayley DiMarco has created a Bible that most importantly gives girls God's word, but adds in great devotionals and helpful information to help them get the most out of it. Since this Bible is made specifically for young girls I asked my two daughters ages, 11 and 13 to help me with this review and to give their honest opinions of the features and study helps. Together we all decided that this is a Bible that they would love to use for many different reasons.
One of the first things that is apparent about the God Girl Bible is the cover. When we first took it out of the box we were all a little surprised that it was almost completely white, with only a pink spine, even the tree on the front was embossed into the white duravella cover. But accompanying the Bible was an information sheet that showed the many different ways the God Girl Bible can be customized and made personal for each individual girl. My youngest daughter was particularly interested in this. The God Girl Website has many different ideas on how to embellish and decorate the cover. I thought this made the Bible specific to each girl and really gave them the opportunity to make it uniquely their own.
The next feature that is very apparent is the translation of the scripture. When I was growing up we used the King James Version of the Bible that was difficult for me as a young christian to read and understand. The God Girl Bible uses the God's Word Translation originally published in 1995, with updated language that is much easier to understand without taking away from the original intent or meaning of each verse. My daughters went to specific passages in the Bible and compared it with other translations that they have including the New King James and New International Version translations and found that The God Girl Bible is easy to read, but still in keeping with what they were expecting from a Bible.
Hayley DiMarco provides a lot of information about each book of the Bible for girls to peruse and help them to get more out of their reading. She gives an introduction, author info, time and place, who the book was written to specifically, and gist of what goes on in the book, for each book in the Bible. My oldest daughter liked the fact that she was able to tell at a glance who this book was written for and what it basically entailed. She was able then to decide if what she wanted to read was found in this book or whether she needed to look somewhere else. I thought DiMarco made everything very accessible to the reader and helped them to hone in on what they were looking for quickly. The section of Must Know facts, terms and verses, were also helpful with this.
The devotionals, prayers and ask yourself questions were very helpful to my daughters they enjoyed reading Hayley's thoughts on how specific passages could be applied in their everyday lives. The God Girl Bible not only gives them the original Biblical passages, but it also helps them to focus their study of the Bible on their own. The ask yourself questions in particular gave them insight on how the Bible that was written so long ago, can still apply to them and how they make the wisdom of the Bible work in their own lives. Applying the principles that the Bible teaches is so important and I think this
Bible would be very beneficial to young girls who are struggling with how to make it relevant to their individual situations and circumstances. The God Girl stories were also helpful in this area because they showed how other young girls were using the God Girl Bible in their lives.
The glossary, index and spiritual self checks were also nice in the fact that if one of my daughters needed to find something specific that they might want to read about or need the Bible's perspective on, they could flip to these sections and be able to find it very quickly. The Spiritual Self Checks also helped them to understand what certain passages were really driving at. This is a section that is not provided in most devotional Bibles and I thought it was very insightful and something that would definitely be used.
As a group I think one of the things that we found most interesting in this specific girls Bible was the interactive website. With the advent of social media and more internet involvement by young girls, I thought having a community where they can talk to like minded people was so very important. The mentoring aspect that Hayley DiMarco describes and implements on this website is an exceptional resource, especially for girls who are not part of a Christian home. Outside influences can be either good or bad and I think the God Girl Website is very well done and will be very helpful.
Overall my daughters thoroughly enjoyed The God Girl Bible and plan to use it in their own personal Bible study and reading. The helpful references and information are easy to understand and relevant. The translation is easy to read and does not take away from the original meaning. The devotions are well written and extremely heartfelt. This is a Bible that young girls can personalize and make their own just like their own personal experience with God. We would recommend this one to any young girl in your life that wants to learn more about God through His Word.
Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
My daughters and I are giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!
Hayley DiMarco is the founder of Hungry Planet, where she writes
and creates cutting-edge books that connect with the multitasking
mind-set. She has written and cowritten numerous bestselling books for
both teens and adults, including Dateable, Mean Girls, Sexy Girls, B4UD8, God Girl, and the God Girl Bible. Hayley lives with her husband and daughter in Tennessee.
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