The Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God's Gift of Purity [With CD (Audio)] [Hardcover]

Jennie Bishop (Author), Preston McDaniels (Illustrator), John Silvey (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2009 | Age Range: 6 and up

A loving king and queen present their daughter with a gift from God - her first kiss - to keep or to give away. The wise girl waits for the man who is worthy of her precious gift. Where is he and how will she ever find him? The surprising answer in this marvelous parable will touch the heart of parent and child alike.The Princess and the Kiss beautifully portrays the ageless message that "love... comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5 NIV)

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Long ago, in a wonderful castle on a mountain of splendor, a beautiful princess was born. Her parents were the king and queen of the mountain and all the green valley below.

The king and queen loved the little princess even before she was born. On the day she came into the world, the royal couple gave their daughter a very special gift from God - her first kiss. While the princess was growing up, the king and queen kept this precious gift safe in their care.

When the princess was finally grown, the king and queen called her to their side.

"We have something very special to give you," said the queen.

Up, up, up the royal family went to a secret room in a tower of the castle. On an elegant table in the center of the room was the same gift given to the princess long ago ... the kiss. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Age Range: 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Warner Press; Har/Com edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593173806
• ISBN-13: 978-1593173807
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 11.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (133 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 141 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Book to Use to Teach Your Children December 4, 2004

By Kelly TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This book is just amazing! It is beautifully done - the illustrations are wonderful, the writing is excellent, and the story is done in such a way as to really touch you - heart and soul. We use this book to teach both our daughters and son about purity and its importance. This book presents this issue in a way that small children can understand and it builds a foundation that will be very easy for us to expand upon as they mature.

What a gift this book is in a culture where we are surrounded and overwhelmed by the most impure of things! We are teaching our children to disdain the cultural messages that surround them [and at this tender age, we protect them from those messages and images to the extent we possibly can]. We are teaching our children to follow God - the only thing that really matters.

The Princess and the Kiss is a precious book - a story of the real value of purity [for both girls AND boys], told in such a way that it still brings tears to my eyes every time I read it - even after dozens and dozens of readings!

This book has become our standard gift for Christmas and Birthdays for all the precious little girls and boys we know and love - and every single one that has recieved this book has *adored* it and their parents were very grateful. You can't go wrong with this one!

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Teaches Girls What Character Qualities to Look for in a Guy January 27, 2005

By Mom Who Reads A Lot

Format:Hardcover

My 6 year old daughter loves princess stories. I hesitate reading them to her because the message portrayed is that you need to be beautiful and marry a handsome, wealthy, charming prince in order to live happily ever after.

This book is a refreshingly stark contrast in that it discusses the importance of waiting to "give away your kiss" and to give it away in marriage only after you have carefully screened your potential mate's character.

I really love how this book portrays typical suitors that have the potential to sweep any young girl off her feet. The rich suitor, the charming suitor, the physically attractive and strong suitor, and the romantic suitor all are rejected by the young princess. The one who is chosen is the one who admires her character and who also has a servant's heart.

This book combined with the True Princess book (which focuses on the character of the princess) are excellent in combating the belief that you need to be physically beautiful and marry a wealthy, strong, handsome, charming prince in order to be happy.

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtuous Daughter! She worth far more than rubies! December 8, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Dear Parent!

HOW RARE!!!

We looked near and far for a book like this!

Christian parents are deeply concerned with raising their daughters to be pure for marriage. Where on earth can you find books or movies to help reinforce these beautiful ideals that the Lord has given us? How do you raise your precious daughter to be a Proverbs 31 woman... a virtuous woman?

This book was one of two we finally found. It focussed on the ages 3 to 12. Nice age range! Our girl is 9. How do you talk about sex without actually dealing with the complex things they are not ready for yet? A book like this gets to the -root- now... you deal with the nitty gritty later when they are better prepared to deal with it. The words used are not sexual in any form in this book.

We also recommend:

- The True Princess by A. Hunt

- Items from "Pearables" website. (also for boys!)

- Items from "Doorposts" website. (also for boys!)

- "Christian-courtship" website. (If your girl is older!)

Enjoy! And happy hunting for products that instill healthy modesty, christian etiquette, honor and such!!!

114 of 133 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice Story that Misses the Point January 26, 2010

By S. Brewer

Format:Hardcover

This book was recommended to me by a couple of lady friends whom I deeply love and respect so I was very sad to see how far short it fell of expectations.

The story, intended for girls age 4-8, is typical of children's fairy tale direct toward girls. It begins with the birth of the beautiful baby princess to the good King and Queen. In their love they gave her a special gift from God, her first kiss. When the princess comes of age, the King and Queen tell her about this special gift that she can give to any man she chooses. They warn her to be careful who she chooses and to save it for the man she marries. After she turns down several unsuitable :-) suitors, caricatures of men of poor character, she is is visited by a humble farm boy who has nothing to give but his own special kiss which he has saved for her.

I will say that the story contains a nice idea of a man and woman saving their special "gifts" for one another. While the purpose of the story is a good one, it falls short of encouraging girls to respect and cherish their purity and paints a mildly insulting picture of girls altogether.

The first mistake was the use of "Kiss" as a metaphor for purity. A kiss is not metaphorical enough, in this context, and can easily be taken literally. Even if you explain that the book is talking about purity, it can impress upon a little girl a legalistic, puritanical fear that if she kisses a boy she has lost her purity.

Secondly, the suitors are poor and overly simplified representations of real men the reader may encounter one day. We do a disservice to our children when we teach them that bad men look bad all the time and good men look good. Good husbands are sometimes (often!) strong, romantic, and rich and bad husbands often appear humble.... Oversimplifying to young people teaches them to stereotype and leaves them vulnerable when their stereotypes fall apart.

A third and more disappointing mistake is the way the princess is portrayed in the book. She really does nothing throughout the book but stare in awe at her "kiss" and wait for an acceptable suitor to come to the door. Her primary concern as she considers her suitors is how much they will value her "kiss." The reverence placed on the "Kiss" is nearly idolic, eclipsing (or perhaps representing) the value of the princess herself. All she has to offer the world and her suitors is the fact that she has not given her kiss away, and all her husband offers her is the fact that he hasn't given his away. Christians should be especially careful about placing too much value on NOT doing something, this has a nasty tendency to turn into legalism. We ought to remind ourselves and teach our children that God cares more for what we have done rather than what we have not done.

Even Christian girls are getting tired of reading stories about heroines that are solely concerned with getting a husband. It is neither biblical nor healthy and we ought to stop teaching our daughters that the greatest thing they can achieve is keep themselves pure for a man. The greatest thing a woman or a man can do is keep themselves entirely pure for God (so where is "The Prince and the Kiss?"). This goes much deeper and is much richer than sexual purity. "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this...to keep oneself unspotted from the world," James 1:27.

I do not wish to downplay the importance of sexual purity. But the reason we ladies keep ourselves pure is not so one day a man will marvel at our "diamond sparkly" purity and decide to marry us. Rather we keep ourselves holy to honor God, to save ourselves the heartache of wasted purity, and to deepen the relationship we will one day have with our partner. Purity has little to do with a girls relationship with her future husband and everything to do with her relationship with her heavenly father. It is from her status as His precious child that a girl derives her purity, her strength, and her purpose.

Again, I appreciate the purpose of the book and I recognize that this story was not intended to encompassed the full purpose of a woman. Still I found it thin, weak, and sadly typical. Read more ›