All Things Girl: Friends, Fashion and Faith

It’s that time of that year again when girls groups are starting in home settings and Catholic parishes.

We’ve received many exciting inquires about the new release of All Things Girl: Friends, Fashion and Faith and wanted to share these two excerpts as an example of what you will find in the book for Catholic tween girls and the accompanying journal. 

The Table of Contents is also offered here. 

And if I can be of any help, please just let me know! Cheryl@BezalelBooks.com

Having a Soul Gives You Inherent Dignity…

Joan lives in a neighborhood where the houses are huge and everyone has a pool. Katie lives in a neighborhood where some of the houses have broken windows and lots of kids share bedrooms. Which person has more dignity?

Tamar is from the Middle East and has olive skin, she speaks with a thick accent. Mary has long, beautiful brunette hair and perfect skin. Betty is chubby and has greasy hair. Gertrude is skinny and cuts her own hair. Which girl has more dignity?

Olivia is 99 years old and can’t bathe herself or feed herself. Ruby has a birthmark on the right side of her face. Jessica is a beautiful model who stars in television commercials. Which person has more dignity?

All people are equal in dignity because they’ve been given a soul by God at their creation.

Here’s another excerpt—the topic is Catholic Baptism:

Being baptized is really quite simple but its simplicity shouldn’t make anyone underestimate its power! Have you ever noticed that during Easter Vigil the priest leads you through a renewal of your baptismal promises? That’s because it is always good to remember what it means to be a baptized member of the body of Christ.

Check it out. This is an example of what the priest might say and what you would say in response.

·  Do you reject Satan? I do.
And all his works? I do.
And all his empty promises? I do.

·Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? I do.

·Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? I do.

·Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? I do.

·God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.

Table of Contents

 ·         You Are Here for a Reason                

·         Relationships                                                       

·         The Real You                                                       

·         Me and Social Media                                          

·         Fashion, Skin, Hair and Makeup                             

·         Financial Responsibility                                  

·         Role Models                                                                          

·         Virtues to Live By                                                             

·         A Prayer Life                                                       

·         Glossary                                                                      

Two Days Left!

There are two days left on our great summer offering of All Things Girl: Truth for Teens. Don't miss out!

We're excited at Bezalel Books to offer All Things Girl: Truth for Teens--one of our most popular teen books--at an amazing price of .99 on Kindle to kick start summer for our precious Catholic teens!

As one Amazon reviewer wrote: All Things Girl is jam-packed with Catholic girl awesomeness and we think you will agree!

Contributors include best-selling author Peggy Bowes and the effervescent Heather Renshaw.  

So for this week only we are offering "Catholic girl awesomeness" for the special Catholic teen in your life!

All Things Girl Just .99 on Kindle!

School's out and it is time for sun and fun! 

We're excited at Bezalel Books to offer All Things Girl: Truth for Teens--one of our most popular teen books--at an amazing price of .99 on Kindle.

As one Amazon reviewer wrote: All Things Girl is jam-packed with Catholic girl awesomeness and we think you will agree!

Contributors include best-selling author Peggy Bowes and the effervescent Heather Renshaw.  

So for this week only we are offering "Catholic girl awesomeness" for the special Catholic teen in your life!

L'Chaim! To Life!

I’m all about symbolism.

So when we decided to give away copies of the newly released, 2^nd revised edition of All Things Girl: Truth for Teens, symbolism was bound to play a role! LOL!

My decision on 18 copies is based upon the number representing “life” in Jewish teaching. That just resonates so deeply with me. I pray for great life for the book and for those who will read it.

That is why we are giving away 18 copies of All Things Girl: Truth for Teens. The link to the giveaway is on the new Facebook page being administered by one of the amazing new contributors, Heather Renshaw.

Heather is a blast. She’s a mother of five youngsters who somehow found the time to write a chapter on vocations in general and motherhood in particular. Because of her honesty and great sense of humor, I am convinced that her chapter will deeply affect the teen girls who read All Things Girl: Truth for Teens.

If you’d like to enter the contest, visit the new Facebook page, like it, share it, and good luck!

https://www.facebook.com/AllThingsGirlTruthForTeens?ref=hl

 

Apparently a Steal....

When All Things Girl first came on the scene there were a lot of mixed reviews. People said things like "it is terrible; it seems homemade" to "the best book EVER for young Catholic girls." Of course, once those books went out of production (there are new ones now in print), everyone clamored for them. I suppose that's how it always goes, right? We don't know what we have until it is gone.

We are now excited to say that the newest All Things Girl book is out! In the 2014 release of Truth for Teens you are going to find the same great open and honest talk that girls love but with fresh, new, relevant voices!

Peggy Bowes (best-selling author of The Rosary Workout and popular speaker) writes about health and fitness. Heather Renshaw, mother of 5 youngsters, somehow found the time to write about vocations in general and motherhood in particular. Kayla Brandon, a journalism major with time in at Fox and other cool places addresses the "Me" in social media. All women speak from a place of passion and experience.

It is awesome and since the ones that are out of print now sell for a couple of hundred dollars (who knew! LOL!), this 2014 All Things Girl: Truth for Teens is a steal at less than $20!

Bad Reviews are Good for the Soul

I vividly recall the first really negative review I received on a book. It was for a particular title in the All Things Girl series and the young person who wrote it was fairly scathing in what she said. She identified herself as one of three sisters who ranged in age from 10 to 15. She went on to post her review on all the books.

I will freely admit that her words brought tears to my eyes.

Two months later, BAM! Another terrible review.

I was reeling from it all. To make matters worse, scores of people were saying how helpful the two terrible reviews were. No one was coming to my defense. Words can’t explain how alone I felt—and utterly defeated in my attempt at serving God’s precious daughters.

And confused…I had prayed each and every time that I had worked on the books. Throughout long days and nights my prayers stormed heaven; I prayed to the Father that every young girl who read the books would be blessed by them; that these books would be instruments of God’s love for his young daughters. All Things Girl was, for me, a series of books for girls who had become so real to me that I loved them all without even knowing them; it was a series to which I had given years of my life.

So to say that these two reviews were important to me is quite an understatement. I took them very, very seriously—not only as a Catholic publisher, but as an adult woman seeking to grow in holiness and charity. I wanted to contribute to the kingdom, not detract from it! I wanted to follow God’s will for my life.

When we seek to grow in the ways of the Lord and to work for his kingdom, we aren’t always handed over to loving, kind or charitable people. We don’t often find ourselves at once surrounded by goodness and kindness. More often than not, when we make a purposeful effort to turn ourselves over to God we might immediately notice that things seem to get worse, not better!

Am I, right? What’s up with that anyhow?

I was working for God, wasn’t it all going to be wonderful and perfect and perfectly awesome?

Of course now I see it couldn’t be any other way. God had work to do with me and those reviews brought me to my knees in pain and hurt and rejection—and, as it turned out, it was a perfectly awesome place for God to start his holy work.

Years later, I love to go look at those reviews because I know they contributed to my own spiritual maturity. It wasn’t easy and I absolutely would have preferred growing in a less painful way; but I get it.

Reviews are important to my business and I think people should review books with honesty and integrity. Let’s face it, nothing is worse than reading a bunch of great reviews only to find a book is nice or okay but definitely not great. So reviews should be truthful. But in the long run, for authors and writers and publishers, reviews can prove to be an interesting instrument of sanctification.

I have come to understand that in my line of work, reviews have a two-fold purpose. Partly they help sell books but I know that the far more important aspect is that they have allowed me to embrace a new level of God’s grace. Each review—good or bad, nasty or nice—is an opportunity to turn to God and see how it can be used for my sanctification and for God’s kingdom.

I had to laugh when I recently read a review on another book we have called All Things Guy: A Guide to Becoming a Man that Matters. The reviewer wrote: “I thought this book was going to be a comedy style book, which it is not. This book is all about believing in the bible and a Higher Power and what not. You do not have to believe in a Higher Power to be a good person. Why some people believe in this crap is beyond me.”

Reading that review I realized that God is still working with me but I was also happy to recognize that He and I have journeyed far together—crap and all!

Cheryl Dickow

www.BezalelBooks.com