Author Brings Out Biblical Guide Designed with Teen Girls in Mind
by Mary Rettig
April 13, 2005
(AgapePress) - The author of a new magazine-style book for teenage girls says she wants young girls to find a spiritual foundation to counter the world's harmful influences.TeenVirtue looks like the latest teen fashion magazine. It is glossy and upbeat, contains quizzes, and talks about boys; but it also provides scripture and deep spiritual truths. Vicki Courtney, author of TeenVirtue, says her daughter was a major factor in the design of the book.
"My daughter is 14, almost 15," Courtney notes, "and she [advised] me when I began to write the book -- it was originally supposed to be a book. One day she just said, 'Mom, girls are really not reading books. Moms keep buying them for us but we're not reading them.' So I wanted to write something that was effective -- that would not only be read but be passed around."
This first edition of TeenVirtue takes several of the significant issues that young girls face and puts them into "bite-size" articles, tackling topics like beauty, boys, sex, friends and family, and having a solid relationship with Christ. Courtney chose the book's magazine-style format in the hopes of encouraging Christian girls to bring it to school with them and share it with their non-Christian friends.
The author emphasizes the fact that every article in the book is based on biblical truth, including a section that reflects on why each person is here in this world and presents a clear gospel message. She has been gratified to see the publication already proving relevant to girls, and many young readers and their parents already responding to it.
"I'm just very encouraged by e-mails I'm getting from moms who picked it up for their daughters," Courtney says, "and even some phone calls of a mom saying her daughter has not read Christian literature in a long time, but [the daughter] went up and locked herself in her room and read through the magazine." Also, exactly as she'd hoped, the author adds that "one mom said her daughter came back downstairs and said 'We've got to buy copies of this for all my friends.'"
TeenVirtue, published by Broadman and Holman Publishers, is a 150-page resource packed with appeal for the adolescent female, according to the promise of its subtitle: "Real Life, Real Issues, ... a Teen Girl's Survival Guide." Courtney says more editions of this Bible-based teen text are in the works.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
