Customer Reviews

A Little Bit of Faith (The Precious Girls Club, Book 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Review of a mother and 8 year old daughter (excerpts reprinted from my blog):
Mom:
One of the first things I really liked about it is that it is a chapter book so it will in fact push my 8 year old daughter as it's not something she will sit down and read in one sitting. So she'll have to retain the story until our next reading session to be able to follow the story.

Another thing I liked is that while it is on her reading level (and in fact I was surprised that she knew some of the words as she was reading it to me), it does push and occasionally throw in words that are not common to her so we get to chat about them and I can see if she can tell meaning by context clues (which thanks to the great writing of Cindy Kenney) she was. Some of the words that threw her right off the bat were the names of some of the states. She had not heard of Kansas or Nebraska so she didn't quite get them right. Another word? Sternly. She pronounced it fine, but something about the way she said it, I knew she didn't know what it meant.

Third - the inclusion of God and guardian angels in the storyline. I loved that not only was it mentioned as part of everyday use but also that it was used on such a great age appropriate level - that we are all special in our own ways. When I first realized that there would be some mention of God in this book, I admit to being worried. I didn't really want this to turn into the focus of the book as I knew that would probably not keep my daughter's attention for long. I was so relieved to see how it was just used here and there and in very appropriate, non-religion specific ways.

Fourth - short chapters. With a young daughter who wants to love to read but is still trying to decide if she actually is, I was thankful for the shorter chapters. We frequently define our reading by chapters. I stop her at each chapter to quiz her about her understanding. Sometimes we take turn reading chapters so that she doesn't get too worked up in the reading and missing parts of the story. And with chapters that are only 7 pages of actual writing, that was a very reasonable task.

And finally, the pictures. While personally I wouldn't want to read a book with this many pictures, I suspected Cameron would like them, and I was right. I immediately noticed that when we flipped a page, when there was a picture (which is very frequently) she would pause to look at it and take it in. For a reader who is just moving into chapter books, this is a great resource as it helps them with their comprehension and it keeps their interest. The artwork in this book is amazing too.

8 Year Old Review:
1. Did you enjoy this book?

Yes. I didn't know if I would, but it was really good. I thought I would read one chapter each day, but sometimes I read 3 or 4.

2. Would you like to read future books in the Precious Girls Club series?

There's going to be more? Where? (I respond, I don't know, but I'm sure we can find them on the Internet) Can we look now?

3. Why do you think you liked this book?

I felt like the little girl in the book last year when I was a new student. It was hard to do my work because I felt so alone. And I liked all the pictures. They were really pretty and helped me know what was going on sometimes.

4. What was your favorite part of the book?

When all the kids came to the club meeting.

5. Did anything surprise you about the book?

I thought everyone would come to the very first meeting, and I was sad when they didn't. I thought books should have a happy ending, but it did after the second meeting.

6. If you had to tell your friends what this book was about what would you say?

It's about a little girl who moves and she is sad because she can't do her math homework and she has no friends. Her guardian angel Faith keeps her cheered up the best she can. And her mom and aunt give her a bracelet. Then she tries to start a club but the kids don't come because they don't know her. Then when she starts to talk to the other kids, they like her and come to her club. Now they are all friends.

7. What did you learn after reading this book?

That you have to not be shy and go ahead and talk to the kids if you want to make friends with them.

8. What did you learn about God?

I didn't know He made the rainbow to tell us He wouldn't ever flood it here again. I'm going to tell my Sunday School teacher about that next week.

Parents who are tired of all the racy dolls and toys that are being marketing to our young daughters will enjoy this book. A Little Bit of Faith is a refreshing book that encourages little girls to believe in themselves and the abilities that God gave them. When Katie, the main character, finds it hard to adjust to her new school, she finds her own solution to her problems instead of just feeling sorry for herself or expecting someone else to solve her problems.

The book is very well-written and there is just the right amount of illustrations throughout the book to encourage and engage a young reader. I enjoyed reading this book together with my first grader while my third grader enjoyed reading it by herself.

A Little Bit of Faith introduces The Precious Girls Club and my girls really like the playing on the new website www.preciousgirlsclub.com. The book even has a secret code that your daughter can use to unlock a special section of the site. As a mom, I like the site because unlike so many things today that are being sold to little girls, this site reinforces the idea that your character and actions are more important that outward appearances. I don't know about you, but I want my girls to stay as innocent as long as possible and this site is definitely age appropriate for little girls.

I see there is another book in the series available now and I look forward to sharing it with my daughters!

8 year old girl:

I think it was a really good book. I want to give this book more than 5 stars. I really want to get the next book if there is one. The best part of the book was when Katie thought no one would show up at her new club, but then surprsingly 10 girls showed up! I think a lot of my friends would like this book. I think my friends would like this book because it shows what would be the right thing to do if something very surprising happened like in the story.

1. This is a delightful book for little girls, for reading-to and for readers. It is well written and illustrated and very engaging for little girls. But, as a part of the precious girls' club concept, it is far more than that. As a grandparent of two really precious girls, I find two aspects of precious girls club of great value in parenting. It provides:

An effective and fun filled platform from which parents can guide the ethical growth of their little girls.

Information, concepts and incentives for getting their little girls actively involved in a positive peer group.

If you are interested in protecting tween and pre-tween girls from today's culture, you might want to consider the Precious Girls' Club concept. [...]

What a refreshing book to have on the market for the young ladies in our lives. As the title suggests, it takes a little bit of Faith. For my younger child the lack of pictures lost her interest, but for my older daughter, she LOVED it. She could so relate to being in a new town and not really having a lot of friends, but learning positive ways to deal with emotions. Thank you for this book that explains just how special our girls are in our lives.

Mom and 6 year old daughter:

After my older daughter read and enjoyed this book, I decided to try reading it to my 6 year old daughter. She is starting to read pretty well, but not into chapter books yet. She did try and pick this book up and read a page or two - and did pretty well! She enjoyed the pictures - they seemed to help her keep up with the story. The chapters were short enough we could read 1-2 chapters at a time. I know she liked the book because she was happy to remind me what had happened in the story so far each time we started reading again. She seemed to relate to the concept of a club and was happy when Katie had new friends at her club meeting. She also like the idea of the bracelet - she likes pretty, girly things! Overall my family has enjoyed sharing this book together.

This is a really great book. I thought it was a cute club that Katie started. Faith is very pretty and is a really great Guardian Angel. I am excited to join the Precious Girls Club online.

As a parent, I like this book. It's a cute story with nice pictures and there is a 'moral to the story'. From a child's perspective; my daughter has read it over and over and can't wait for us to get the next one. This is a great concept and the website is fun too.A Little Bit of Faith (Precious Girls' Club)