Raising Maidens of Virtue

Grace & Truth Books is one of my new favorite online finds!

This online Christian book store is built on a different approach: what will glorify God, strengthen His people in their walk, and call all peoples to find joy in knowing His gospel and following Him.

It is refreshing to be able to browse through a book store without wondering if the books I am perusing will be appropriate for me and my family.  With a selection of available books ranging from children to adults, Grace & Truth Books is certainly a treasure.  One of their featured books currently is Raising Maidens of Virtue, by Stacy McDonald. Normally retailing for $22, this book is available for $18.50 through Grace & Truth Books.  My youngest daughter and I have been reading through Raising Maidens of Virtue together and, I can honestly say it is destined to become a classic for us.

     Through Raising Maidens of Virtue, McDonald gives mothers and daughters the tools they need to strengthen their relationship with each other, with friends, with God, and (for daughters) with a future spouse.  This revised and expanded edition includes stories, devotional type teachings, beautiful illustrations, and memory-making projects, all intended to be read, studied, and applied by mothers and daughters.  Appropriate for girls ages 8-15, Raising Maidens of Virtue is more than just a Bible study.  My youngest daughter is 12, and she is loving our study together.  Each chapter is fairly short (6-12 pages), is easy to read together or separately, and includes questions and scripture passages at the end to discuss and read together.  At 12, C would be able to easily read this on her own, but, I think it is much more meaningful to read and study it together.  I think Raising Maidens of Virtue would even be appropriate for young women older than 15.  I plan on giving a copy of it to my oldest daughter (a college student) to help her continue her quest to be a godly woman. 

     The twenty chapters of Raising Maidens of Virtue cover topics such as chastity, purity, honoring your parents, being homemakers, modesty, and love.  One chapter that has really prompted a lot of discussion is chapter 6, “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On.”  I am not ‘anti-jeans,’ but, I did appreciate the thoughts in this chapter about both femininity.  C and I were able to have some great discussions about what boys think when girls are wearing tight jeans that show everything.  She hasn’t stopped wearing jeans, but she has started looking at how she wears jeans and is learning to be more feminine and more modest in them.  She even asked me to buy her some tops for winter that  were longer (to cover her backside in her jeans).  I think decisions about what clothing to wear and how to wear it are very personal and are between us and God.  I am so thankful that McDonald presented this subject in a godly way without the legalistic tone that sometimes surfaces when discussions of what clothing is modest arise. 

     Our very favorite part of Raising Maidens of Virtue, beyond the study itself, has been the activity suggestions in the appendix.  There are great ideas for memory-making projects such as scrapbooks, journals, and even a ‘Literary Tea.’  Right now we are working on a Pages of Time scrapbook.  I have very little information about godly women in my family tree, so we are focusing on my precious mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.  We are working on an interview-type questionnaire to give each of them at Thanksgiving and are working to collect pictures to put in our scrapbook.   I can already tell that this will be an ongoing project for a long time.  (Don’t tell my girls, but I am giving each of them mother-daughter journals for Christmas – another suggested activity.  I can’t wait for us to get started sharing with each other in this way!)

     Many of my friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been reading Raising Maidens of Virtue, as well as other selections from Grace &Truth Books.  To read their reviews, visit our main crew blog page.

**Disclaimer:  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a copy of Raising Maidens of Virtue, at no cost to me, in exchange for this honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own.  No compensation was received.**