Pam Davis’s Girls ‘n Grace Collection is a Christian mom’s alternative to the American Girl Series. They are books about young girls in different countries and in different time periods. I read one about Mesi, a young girl in Africa, and Sydney Clair, a young girl in the United States during the 60’s. Mesi struggled with putting her faith in God through hard times. Her family did not even have the money to put her in school and things did not seem to be getting any better. Sydney Clair was exposed to the difficulty of understanding the racial issues of her time. African Americans legally had rights, yet white Americans were not ready to acknowledge those rights.
In each book the grace of God is a central theme. Author Pam Davis says that she intentionally left out the “i” in the title of her collection “Girls ‘n Grace” to emphasize that it is not what we ourselves do that earns the love or favor of God, but His love and favor - His grace - is His gift.
Similar to the American Girl series, Girls ‘n Grace also offers dolls that look like the characters of the books, and girls can buy one that looks a bit like themselves. You can even choose to buy a doll and a small Bible together and have it sent to someone who may need to read the message of God’s grace. This is not such a bad idea, but I have to say the dolls are quite pricey at $77 each. I would never spend that much for a doll, even if it is a collector’s item. Others will feel differently, of course.
I do recommend the books. The publisher says they are for age 6 and up, but I would say the reading level is a bit higher than that for most children. 6 year olds may be interested in hearing the stories read aloud, however. The stories are sweet and the pictures are well done. They share the element I love of American Girl which is that your child can learn a bit of real history in a fun way, and they have the additional element of sharing about God’s grace, an ever-important message.
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August 7th, 2008 at 8:49 am
What a great idea. Now, what took ‘em so long?
August 7th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hi Leah,
thanks for the review. I like that the books are international, but I don’t really have a problem with the American Girl books. In fact, I rather love them.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I reviewed a couple of these titles on my blog as well :). The dolls are pricey, but my daughter would really like one..ummm…erm….let’s just go play at their website again! She loves doing her own online magazine on their site.
I agree on the age range, I think it should be a bit higher. When we read Sydney Clair’s Season of Change aloud together, my 5 year old struggled in places with understanding the complex social issues. Mesi wasn’t too bad though :).