Hello Stars – Alena Pitts (with Wynter Pitts)

©2017  Zonderkids, Grand Rapids

The author of this book is a young (very young) actress/model who got her start in the recent film War Room. She teams up with her mother to pen this book about a young girl who literally falls into an acting role.

In some respects, Hello Stars is fairly easy to categorize—it’s a book by a twelve-year-old girl writing about an eleven-year-old girl and what can happen if life takes a turn. Choosing to abide by the writer’s motto, “write what you know,” Alena tells a story that could be very similar to her own. Is it any wonder that the book is targeted to preteen girls? It is a book that brings faith to the forefront in both family and workplace settings. Even with all of this right up front, the book itself categorizes itself in a laundry list of titles: it is part of the “faithGirlz” books developed by Zondervan’s Zonderkids division; it proclaims on the cover that it is the first in the “Lena in the Spotlight” series (which advertises book 2, Day Dreams and Movie Screens, is available in bookstores and online). So, choose a category and settle in for a nice story.

The story, told from the voice of 11-year-old Lena Daniels, brings the reader into the heart and mind of a preteen girl. She has her special friends at school, she loves her family, and she would just die to meet her favorite singer, Mallory. When she prays that her video greeting to Mallory will win her an opportunity to spend time with the singer, she is convinced that it’s a flop. And then the call comes that Lena has been chosen to star opposite Mallory in an upcoming movie based on faith.

The book is a good read and will appeal to its target audience for a variety of reasons. It speaks in a voice that is familiar to them, it addresses topics and dreams that most (if not every) preteen girl is concerned with, and it bears a positive message about faith and God.

As with any book of this nature, and especially first outings for an author, the story does have some drawbacks. It will have limited appeal even among young female readers because it has a tendency to “preach” a lot. Not that the sermons are bad, but it may find its way only into the hands of girls of faith. The tone and message of the book will help this limited audience to grow in faith (just as the main character does), but if the desire is to reach an audience outside the Christian community, the authors and the publisher will find an uphill battle.

All in all, I’d have to give the book 4 out of 5 reading glasses for a really fun summer adventure offered by a first-time author. I did find myself enjoying the family I met in the pages of Hello Stars (almost to the point of checking out book 2) even if I’m not a preteen girl (I am the father of one, though).

—Benjamin Potter, June 22, 2017

(I received this book from the publisher for the express purposes of this review.)

NIV Holy Bible for Girls, Journal Edition

©2015 Zondervan, Grand Rapids

This is the first opportunity that I have had to review a new edition of a Bible. While I will not be reviewing the text of the Scripture, I would like to make a few observations about this special edition of the NIV Translation.

I personally like the New International Version for reading and preaching because of its smooth flow of the English language. I was disappointed a few years ago when publishers re-vamped the text with a version that was a bit more politically savvy than the original NIV. That being said, I would like to turn my attention to the characteristics that make this edition unique among Bibles.

This particular edition is designed with two goals in mind: (1) to appeal to an audience of girls in the pre-teen years and throughout the teenage years, and (2) to provide journaling space so that readers can “make this beautiful book [their] own.”

Aesthetically, the vibrant colors of the cover with pastels and pinks would seem to appeal to a number of girls in the target age group. The cover itself is sturdy cardboard that should last for several years and abide daily use since the Bible is designed to be a tool worthwhile for a girl’s daily devotion time. And it comes equipped with an attached silk place marker as well as a handy elastic strap to keep the book closed when not in use.

The text of the scripture is printed on about 2/3 of the page leaving ample space for notes, ideas, and responses that grab the heart of the reader while they are engaging with the Bible. The other third of the page is lined to aid in the reader’s response. I asked my 15- and 10-year-old daughters to examine the Bible and give me their thoughts, after all they are both in the target group for this edition. Both of them were impressed by the journaling margins designed into the book suggesting that this would make the Bible a good tool to use in daily devotions.

One drawback with the journaling design in my opinion is the paper used for the pages. While the publisher did not use the delicate onion-skin paper that is found in many gift Bibles and high-end, leather-bound editions, the paper is relatively thin to be used for the purpose of note-taking and high-lighting. I fear a great deal of bleed-through might occur for readers with a heavy writing hand like myself. I will grant that the weight of the paper is good to keep the volume from having to be divided into two or three books in order to include the entire text of the Scriptures.

One other exception that my older daughter noted as a disappointment was the lack of study helps such as a short, general concordance and maps, although there is a “Weights & Measures” conversion chart included in the rear end papers.

Overall this is a useful, attractive copy of the Bible that would be a fine gift Bible for the pre-teen or teenaged girl in your life. I give it four out of five reading glasses.

—Benjamin Potter January 11, 2017

[This book was provided free of charge by the publisher for purposes of this review. The opinions are my own.]