Dee W. (dwolters) reviewed Princess Stories: Real Bible Stories of God's Princesses on + 63 more book reviews
Princess Stories Real Bible Stories of Gods Princesses by Carolyn Larsen- book review
All little girls love princesses and dream of growing up to be one, wear a lovely gown and marry prince charming. Disney has made numerous movies about fairy tale princesses. Now there is Biblical princess book. Carolyn Larsen has written a book of short stories about Gods princesses, from the Bible. And Sergey Eliseev has done a great job of the illustrations, which are very appealing to the girl who has seen a lot of Disney movies.
Each story has a 3 page story, with illustrations, and Bible Verse that coordinates with the story, and Princess Ponderings- review questions about the story and verse. There are 30 stories from the New and Old Testament.
This book would make a wonderful gift for a preschool girl. It could be used for a Sunday School class or Bible study time. I think it would be wonderful for read aloud before bed for a month. Extra special if you have several daughters and can make a special girl time. (I have 3 daughters) Many Biblical stories have male characters, so the girls often do not have female Bible stories to relate to, so this book fills that void well. Delightful book!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale House to review. All opinions expressed are my own.
All little girls love princesses and dream of growing up to be one, wear a lovely gown and marry prince charming. Disney has made numerous movies about fairy tale princesses. Now there is Biblical princess book. Carolyn Larsen has written a book of short stories about Gods princesses, from the Bible. And Sergey Eliseev has done a great job of the illustrations, which are very appealing to the girl who has seen a lot of Disney movies.
Each story has a 3 page story, with illustrations, and Bible Verse that coordinates with the story, and Princess Ponderings- review questions about the story and verse. There are 30 stories from the New and Old Testament.
This book would make a wonderful gift for a preschool girl. It could be used for a Sunday School class or Bible study time. I think it would be wonderful for read aloud before bed for a month. Extra special if you have several daughters and can make a special girl time. (I have 3 daughters) Many Biblical stories have male characters, so the girls often do not have female Bible stories to relate to, so this book fills that void well. Delightful book!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Tyndale House to review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Amanda -
Unfortunately, the book isn't accurate
I'm not going to lie - I had high hopes for this book and had originally planned to buy it. As it turns out, I'm really glad I checked it out of the library first.
A minor quibble with this book is that its not actually about real princesses in the Bible (or even female rulers), it's about any woman in the Bible who believed in God (& since God's King, these women are princesses). OK, eye roll, but I get it ... there aren't many "real" princesses in the Bible to fill the pages of this book. Not a huge deal.
What annoys me the most about this book is how they claim certain women were the "most/best ______" princess. Rebekah (Issac's wife) was the most helpful princess, Naomi (Ruth's mother in law) was the best role model, Ruth was the most loyal, Hannah (Samuel's mom) the most prayerful, Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mom) the most honored, The woman at the well the most forgiven, and the reader the most special princess. (for a few examples ... almost every "princess" has some such extreme title given to her).
The the "most" qualifier wasn't there, I wouldn't have a problem. Rebekah was helpful, Ruth was loyal, Hannah was prayerful, The woman at the well forgiven, and the reader special. But we have no way of knowing that any of these are the MOST or the BEST of anything.
Further, some of the examples are just incorrect. E.g., Naomi was NOT a good role model - she moved to a foreign country when famine struck Israel (they weren't to associate with non-Israelites) & her two sons married pagan women (which was expressly forbidden by God)! The woman at the well was not the most forgiven - we are all equally forgiven for all sins are equally wrong. And there are other such examples of the Bible being misrepresented throughout the book.
These issues with the book are a super disappointment. I was really looking forward to this book, but instead I feel that it falls short.
It's not all bad, however,as there are a couple things I do like about the book. After every "princess" story there is a memory verse, and on the next page there are "Princess Ponderings" where the reader is asked a couple questions about the story just read, told to read a particular Scripture and then asked a question about it. I do appreciate that aspect of the book, but sadly I don't feel like I can recommend this work overall.
I'm not going to lie - I had high hopes for this book and had originally planned to buy it. As it turns out, I'm really glad I checked it out of the library first.
A minor quibble with this book is that its not actually about real princesses in the Bible (or even female rulers), it's about any woman in the Bible who believed in God (& since God's King, these women are princesses). OK, eye roll, but I get it ... there aren't many "real" princesses in the Bible to fill the pages of this book. Not a huge deal.
What annoys me the most about this book is how they claim certain women were the "most/best ______" princess. Rebekah (Issac's wife) was the most helpful princess, Naomi (Ruth's mother in law) was the best role model, Ruth was the most loyal, Hannah (Samuel's mom) the most prayerful, Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mom) the most honored, The woman at the well the most forgiven, and the reader the most special princess. (for a few examples ... almost every "princess" has some such extreme title given to her).
The the "most" qualifier wasn't there, I wouldn't have a problem. Rebekah was helpful, Ruth was loyal, Hannah was prayerful, The woman at the well forgiven, and the reader special. But we have no way of knowing that any of these are the MOST or the BEST of anything.
Further, some of the examples are just incorrect. E.g., Naomi was NOT a good role model - she moved to a foreign country when famine struck Israel (they weren't to associate with non-Israelites) & her two sons married pagan women (which was expressly forbidden by God)! The woman at the well was not the most forgiven - we are all equally forgiven for all sins are equally wrong. And there are other such examples of the Bible being misrepresented throughout the book.
These issues with the book are a super disappointment. I was really looking forward to this book, but instead I feel that it falls short.
It's not all bad, however,as there are a couple things I do like about the book. After every "princess" story there is a memory verse, and on the next page there are "Princess Ponderings" where the reader is asked a couple questions about the story just read, told to read a particular Scripture and then asked a question about it. I do appreciate that aspect of the book, but sadly I don't feel like I can recommend this work overall.
