The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood starts, well, beautifully, new cover included! Shelley Noonan and Kimberly Zach make character training a treat for you and your 9-to-14-year-old daughter. I especially liked the tea party idea! Excellent! This 138-page, paperback companion guide can be used with either the 1940's original Mabel Hale Beautiful Girlhood text, or with Karen Andreola's 1993 update. It was birthed from the author's own training-ground experiences with her daughter, and promises a cherished, shared time of Bible study, heart examination, conduct contemplation, and joy at the feet of the Master.

Noonan and Zach cover training issues like dress, friends, boys, books, the future, watching the tongue, and having a pure heart. On the subject of friendships with boys, I was relieved to see the authors pointing Beautiful Girlhood students to Scripture, and not capitulating to the modern pressures of our culture. Likewise, the chapter on dress: I'm heartened to see 21st century authors with the moral courage to say what's godly and not what's popular.

The questions will poke at the weeds in your heart, pulling out the erroneous, and planting the Word of God with renewed attention. Discussion questions should not be dismissed, nor the journaling ignored. This is solid character teaching, much needed for general guidance as well as for correction. The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood would serve well for personal study as well as for group discussion, though I would leave the journal entries private for mother and daughter to ensure deep thought, uncensored by group "therapy."