“Praying girls are world-changers! And this deeply inspiring storybook proves it!
Just for the girls in your life, ages 8 and up, this collection of 100 extraordinary stories of praying women of faith--from the Bible, history, and today--will empower girls to know and understand how praying women have made a difference in the world and how much smaller our faith (and the biblical record) would be without them. Featuring full-page, colorful illustrations alongside the true stories of praying women like Anna, Esther, Hannah, Anne Bradstreet, Shirley Dobson, Lottie Moon, Ida Scudder, Corrie ten Boom, Phillis Wheatley, and dozens more, the stories of these 100 women will encourage and inspire girls to become the praying world-changers God created them to be!”
Series: Part of the “Courageous Girls” line by the publisher. A connecting book is “100 Extraordinary Stories for Courageous Girls” which has been reviewed Here!
Spiritual Content- Not only are women from the Bible (Anna, The Canaanite Woman, Deborah, Esther, Hannah, and others) discussed in this book, but also influential Christian women like Fanny Crosby, Bethany Hamilton-Dirks, Corrie ten Boom, Harriet Tubman, and more) along with missionaries (Gladys Aylward, Amy Carmichael, Faye Edgerton, Lottie Moon and others) martyrs (Betty Stam), and female pastors are also discussed; Each woman from the Bible has the references of where to find her in the Bible; Fifteen women in this collection are from the Bible and two of them are called “Prophetess” (Anna, Deborah); Hildegard of Bingen is also said to be a prophet after receiving visions from God; Each courageous women in this book has one page about her, how prayer affected her life, what the reader get gain from the woman’s prayer, a Scripture correlating, & the page next to it has a painting-like picture; Over a dozen of the women in this book hear from God and Jesus through prayer, dreams, visions, & Him speaking to their hearts; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God and Jesus;
All about God, Jesus, becoming a Christian, prayers/praying, & these women’s faiths; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Bible studies; Mentions of churches, church going, ministers/pastors, worship, sermons, & Sunday school; Mentions of praising & thanking God; Mentions of witnessing to others & missionaries; Mentions of hymns/songs & those who wrote them; Mentions of salvation & sins; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of convents, nuns, & priests/bishops (there are a handful of women in this book that were nuns); A few mentions of Quakers teaching that both men and women can talk to God (Margaret Fell who was later put in prison for speaking up about this); A few mentions of when King Henry led the Church of England and anyone who didn’t obey his church’s teachings (including that women cannot read or teach about the Bible) were arrested and put to death; A few mentions of the Church of England deciding what people should do and say; A few mentions of a woman being honored as a saint (long after her death, Saint Birgitta of Sweden); A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A couple mentions of miracles Jesus did;
*Note: Most women in this volume are called Christian, even if online research claims that the woman was a devout Catholic (such as well-known Catholics like Saint Augustine and Mother Terese being called some of the “greatest…Christian[s]” who lived); In one prayer, “Oh, my God!” is exclaimed (Thérèse of Lisieux);
One of the women (Antoinette Brown Blackwell) wanted to become a woman minister and went to school for it, but some men “shouted and stamped their feet”, which didn’t stopped her and she later became the first woman minister in the United States (the message at the end of her page says that her story “inspires other little girls to become ministers or whatever else they wanted to be”);
In the page about Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army), it is said that after reading a lot about Jesus, she wanted to preach, so both her and her minister husband preached together in their church (it’s added that “maybe someday God will lead you to preach, like Catherine, or maybe He has a different plan for you.”);
Six other female pastors/ministers (Esther Ibanga, Hildegard of Bingen, Jarena Lee (the first female African American preacher), Phoebe Palmer, Amanda Berry Smith, Sojourner Truth), are shared about in this book with all having their own page; The author says that it’s not usual today to see “pastors of every nationally, both men and women”, but in Jarena Lee’s time, most pastors were “white men” and because of women like her and others, “women fill many roles in the church as group leaders, teachers, counselors, and pastors”);
In Esther Ibanga’s page, it is shared about how she reached out to Muslims in Nigeria and how there is no peace between Christians and Muslims there, so she created an initiative to one day have peace between the Christians and Muslims of Nigeria through Jesus;
It’s shared in Shawn Johnson’s page that God spoke to her saying “…you’ve been afraid of disappointing a lot of people…it’s okay to follow your heart.” and the author notes that being perfect and winning doesn’t matter, how that only thing that does matter is God;
In Julian of Norwich’s page, it’s shared that she asked God for a near-death experience and when suffering a life-threatening disease, she claimed to saw “sixteen visions of Jesus and heaven”;
When sharing about Monica of Hippo, it’s said that her son, Augustine, grew up to join a religious cult and many years later left it (the author says that Augustine became “one of the greatest Christians in history!”);
In Flannery O’Connor’s page, it’s said that she wrote books that were not expected of a Christian author, but wrote books that were centered on sin and were “dark, violent, even shocking. She wanted readers to realize they needed God’s grace.”; Similarly, in Dorthy Sayers’ page, it’s noted how she wrote books about there being consequences for “choosing evil over good” and left her readers thinking they needed to be “saved from making bad choices”;
A bit about Hinduism is shared in Pandita Ramabai’s page (about her growing up in a Hindu family and worshiping “gods, goddesses, tress and animals” and going to temples where these gods were supposed to live; Because of the gods not answering her family’s prayers, she lost faith in the Hindu religion);
In the page about Mary Slessor (a Scottish missionary in Africa) it’s shared how some native African tribes believed in superstition and “demons, spirits, and false gods”;
Some of the women featured in this book questioned if God really existed (or faced people who thought this like their parents (Simone Weil)), but ultimately believed in God later; A mention of Buddhism.
Negative Content- In the page about Bethany Hamilton-Dirks’, the shark attack is described (“Bethany felt a pressure on her left arm. A hard pull joggled her arm a few times, and the water around her turned red. Bethany saw her left arm was missing at the shoulder.”);
In Lauren Scruggs’ page, it’s shared that she “walked into the plane’s spinning propeller. She was badly injured…she lost her left eye and her left hand…”;
Many mentions of wars (including World War II, Nazis, & concentration camps), tribal wars, slavery (referring to when it was legal for “white people [to own] slaves”), & former slaves; Mentions of massacres/genocides, murders, & an assassination (Immaculee Ilibagiza, Coretta Scott King, Corrie ten Boom); Mentions of deaths, murders, torture, executions, & prisons (no details; Anne Askew, Darlene Deibler Rose, Betty Stam (the latter who was murdered)); Mentions of deaths & grief (widows for husbands, for parents, a mother for her child and multiple babies that passed away, & for a sister); Mentions of criminals & being treated like a criminal; Mentions of kidnappings & ransom (Betty Stam, Phillis Wheatley who was kidnapped as a child and sold as a slave); Mentions of cancer (Tamara Jolee Metcalfe) & a mention of a child’s death from cancer (Barbara Bush’s daughter); A few mentions of car accidents, death, & almost dying in one; A few mentions of fires & homes being set on fire; A few mentions of divorces & separated parents (Maya Angelou, Shirley Dobson, Niki Taylor); A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of the Pharaoh ordering all baby boys to be drowned; A couple mentions of partying; A mention of a diving accident that left someone paralyzed (Joni Eareckson Tada); A mention of bullying;
*Note: Racism was faced by some of these women and mentioned in their sections & they also fought against it by fighting for equal rights for African Americans and against slavery (Maya Angelou, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King, Amanda Berry Smith, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatley; This includes mentions of African Americans’ homes being burned and bombed & black people being killed because of the color of their skin);
In Coretta Scott King’s page, the author tells the readers to “pray for peace and acceptance for everyone”;
Comments about some of these women originally living in ways that were “not pleasing to God” (Maya Angelou, Dorothy Day) and some that have “messed up” (Amy Grant) before becoming a Christian;
Mentions of gender equality and speaking up about it (in historical settings and/or in the church; Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Margaret Fell, Anne Hutchinson); Mentions of depression, anxiety, & eating disorders (Elana Meyers Taylor, Niki Taylor, Simone Weil);
Mentions of TV shows & movies (Hallmark movies, Make It or Break It, Full House, Touched By An Angel, The Bible, Son of God, The Voice, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, Shark Tank, The Facts of Life, Dancing With the Stars, Bridge to Terabithia, Letters to God, & American Idol); Mentions of politicians (Bill Clinton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, & Martin Luther King Jr.); Mentions of singers (Amy Grant, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, & Elvis Presley); A couple mentions of magazines (Vogue, Seventeen).
Sexual Content- It’s noted on Hannah’s page that in the time of the Bible, men often had more than one wife; When discussing The Woman at the Well, it’s noted that she had “five husbands, and now was living with another man”;
When sharing about Ruth Bell Graham and her prayer for marrying her “Mr. Right”, the author asks the reader “would you like to get married one day? Think about the kind of man you would like to marry. Start praying now and ask God to send you His Mr. Right.”;
In Amy Carmichael’s page, it’s noted that “young girls in Indie were often kidnapped and used in evil ways”;
When sharing about Catherine of Siena, it’s said that Catherine had a “huge disagreement” with her parents because they wanted her to get married, so she rebelled;
*Note: In the page about Lauren Scruggs, it’s shared that after her accident, she learned that “many girls don’t like something about their bodies. She wanted them to know that appearance doesn’t define who they are.”;
In Elana Meyer Taylor’s page, it noted that in college she fell into depression which led into an eating disorder, “Elena decided that eating—or not—was the one thing in her life she could control. It was a bad decision.” and that when she gave her life to Jesus, the depression and eating disorder went away.
Written in a bedtime story/devotional format
208 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
—Not rating due to some theology concerns—
I think there’s good lessons and stories shared in this book, but there’s also some that might not be for all Christian families due to some questionable theology parts. At the risk of opening a can of worms about theology and controversial topics in the Christian world, I’m reviewing this book and sharing what I liked and also what I found to be a little concerning.
There is a wide variety of women shared about in this book. There are Protestant and Catholic women & also women from our current time to women who lived back in the Bible time period. I knew the majority of them, but had to research about others while reading and reviewing this non-fiction book. My head is spinning after reading about all of these women and researching them as I read during these past couple of days.
There were some theology parts that I disagreed with, so it’s hard for me to rate this book. Some pages were fine, but there were other ones I would probably skip if I was reading this book to a young reader—or at least read with her to explain more context and Biblical thoughts. Some concerns besides the features of eight different female pastors, are comments like God telling one of these young women that it’s “okay to follow your heart”. There’s very well-known Catholics being called some of the “greatest Christians who ever lived” (like Saint Augustine and Mother Teresa) and a couple other women were known for Christian mysticism which caused me to go down more rabbit trails that I expected with this book.
Some of these felt like stretches to fill a page of information about. Such as Anna from the Bible, she’s only mentioned in two verses in the Bible, so this book adds to it by assuming how she felt about her widow status and death of her husband. As a technical note, while all of the women from the Bible in this book have a reference on where she is mentioned in the Bible, two of the women’s Scriptures references do not have her actually named in that part. For example, Jochebed (Moses’ mother) is said to be in Exodus 1; 2:1-10 but her name isn’t mentioned in the Bible until Numbers 26:59. Salome (Jesus’ disciples, James and John’s mother) is in Matthew 20:20-25, but isn’t named in that section either (she is in the Book of Mark’s account of this event). I think this could be confusing for young readers.
While any details that could be questionable or not appropriate for middle-grade readers were removed, some of these women had lives that were not “pleasing to God” (as the author of this book put it a few times) so I would caution about young readers researching about some of these women and their stories/pictures as these are highly edited versions shared. Because they are so condensed, some of the stories felt choppy or poorly written.
I didn’t love that there were more than a handful of women in this collection that had the emphasis of speaking up and rebelling against her time period’s rules. While I can be grateful for those who have lead the way into recognizing that women can read the Bible for themselves and speak about it, there was almost a feminist tone to some of these entries with highlighting the “rebelling” part of their stories. Perhaps it’s really just because of it being around the 1600s (and earlier) which was just how it was back then, but it started to feel repetitive with the same words of “speaking up” and “rebelling” being used.
I’m honestly not sure how many young, middle-grade aged readers would be interested in all of these stories. Besides a few from the Bible that are shared about, I would imagine that most 8-12 year olds would probably only know about a dozen of these women. Some of the TV shows and books mentioned in these women’s stories aren’t ones I would recommend for this age group.
I would highly suggest for a parent to read this book with their girl rather than give this book to her to read by herself. I enjoyed the connecting book “100 Extraordinary Stories for Courageous Girls” as it featured more well-known figures and had better summaries, but would probably pass on this book due to some concerns listed above.
Parents please note:
* This book does have a story of martyrs (Anne Askew and Betty Stam), others who have faced concentration camps (Corrie ten Boom and Edith Stein), and those who were tortured (Darlene Deibler Rose). While it never is detailed in how deaths or torture happens, there might should be caution for reading it at night to young girls with overactive imagination in case of nightmares. Instead, choosing a different woman’s story to read at night or reading theses more difficult stories during the day and discussing it then might be an idea.
* There is some assuming on the Biblical women (like with Anna is only mentioned in two verses in the Bible) in this book. Homeschool parents could expand on the overall story or add about these women to their curriculum when studying the chapters of the Bible the women are mentioned in.
* If researched online, there are photographs of models in this book (Kathy Ireland and Niki Taylor) shown in skimpy bikinis or provocative photos.
* There is a total of eight women in this book who are said to have preached and/or are called female pastors/preachers.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
