Paperback
80 pages
Mar 2008
Authentic

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

In Mesi, a Girl ‘n Grace series story, Pam Davis teaches girls six and older about God’s goodness, prayer, and grace.

More than anything, Mesi, a girl growing up in Africa, wants to continue going to school. Because of a drought, Mesi’s family cannot afford to pay the tuition or buy the school books and uniform she needs. Instead, Mesi must help care for her baby sister, do chores for Mother, and tend the dry cocoa trees. Mesi’s best friend, Kwasi, encourages her to ask the oldest woman in the village, Miss Ama, who is a Christian, what she should do. Miss Ama encourages her to ask God’s help. Right after Mesi prays, a neighbor invites Father to go search for gold with him. Mesi thinks God will solve all of their problems with the gold. Then disaster strikes! If God is good, why did he let disaster overcome them? Will God send bad things their way to pay for the answer to prayer?

Miss Ama tells Mesi that “God is good.” Although that is the closest thing to actual scripture used in the story, Davis drives home the themes of God’s goodness, prayer, and grace. Davis complements the story’s theme through the Bible study at the end using II Chronicles 16:9, Hebrews 4:13, Jeremiah 29:11, and Romans 5:8.

The first sixty-seven pages tells the story. The next section of the book gives historical and cultural information about Africa and the story of a godly Christian woman from Africa. Near the end, the publisher includes information about the dolls that you can order to go with the story and the website. The last page of the book includes a short Bible study for girls.

The website includes games, products, and other features, though some elements of the website are open to only purchasers of the doll.

Mesi is a lively, likeable girl whom other girls will relate to. Davis includes cultural information and gives Mesi a worthy and realistic goal, a desire for an education. Davis writes well in a manner that young girls will enjoy. In fact, I had to track down my eight-year-old daughter after the book arrived in order to review it. She put it succinctly, “That’s a good story, Mamma.” Debbie W. Wilson, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

Book Jacket:

Mesi (pronounced Maycee) is a girl growing up on the continent of Africa. The landscape is as diverse as its people and their beliefs. Mesis education and her familys wellbeing are threatened by drought, disease, and war. Yet, amidst these hardships, Mesi discovers a God who is near, so near that he cares about what concerns her. Along her journey she finds out about his inexhaustible treasure called grace. Similar to the American Girl series model, Girls n Grace follows several characters who are set in modern decades. The unique aspect of this series is not only will girls from other continents be featured, but all of the characters in their series of books will come to know fully the grace that only God can provide.