Book Review: Redefining Beautiful

As a Thomas Nelson Publisher Book Reviewer, I choose Redefining Beautiful as my next book to read and review. I choose this book primarily as a mom. It is designed for young women- those in their teens and early twenties written by Jenna Lucado- daughter of Max Lucado. I want to prepare myself as a mom of a daughter how I can begin instilling in her even in the preschool years that she is special, beautiful, and cherished.

Redefining Beautiful encourages young ladies to focus on life accessories that God designed and cherishes in his Girls to be beautiful in His standards. Life accessories such as confidence, joy, self control, value, and love. Intertwined with scripture references are beauty tips, stories from real girls (including Jenna herself), and notes from Max that provide a valuable insight from an earthly father's standpoint.

Ms. Lucado includes some insightful thoughts and strategies to encourage young women to discover who they are, why they are the way they are, and how they can learn to love who they are and realize their unique identity. One of my favorite sections talked about earthly fathers and our Heavenly father. A profound statement I felt was on page 75 "Though our earthly dads will impact who we are, it's only our heavenly Dad's love that can define who we are."

This book would work wonderfully as a small group bible study guide or as individual study. There are many questions posed by the other and include space for writing answers right in the book. I could see this working extremely well as a a group discussion for teens and ladies in their young twenties (college age). Discussing how we are made beautiful in God's sight, lifting one another in prayer, challenging each other to dress and act appropriately, and discovering how our life accessories given to us by God can encourage us would have made my teen and young twenty years more successful and uplifting, as opposed to the constant comparisons and competitiveness that lingers even in Christian circles. If you have a daughter, I would encourage you to get this book for her, and find a mentor or group of girls she can go through it with, or even go through it with her. It will lift her self esteem, give her confidence to face the trials of peer pressure, and when done in a group will build cohesive unity as women of God instead of walls of competitive worldly desires.

The only critique I would have for the book is that the writing lacks some continuity and jumps from topic to topic rather quickly. The extra boxes were helpful, but broke up the text too much and took extra effort in tying the concepts together.