Rooney Cruz
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
We recently had the chance to review The Adventures of Rooney Cruz RINGLEADERS, part of the Bible Belles series from Truth Becomes Her. With four sons and no daughters, our family isn’t exactly the target audience for this series, but we still enjoyed it.
Rooney Cruz, the main character in this book, struggles with feeling inadequate and left out, emotions anyone can identify with. We follow along with her through the school play, from the first read-through to opening night. As the story progresses, she is visited by an angel (Mari), who takes her to a special window where she can see events from the Bible as they take place. Throughout the Biblical storyline, Rooney learns about Elizabeth, Mary, the Samaritan woman at the well, Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene, and she learns about the meaning and importance of the gospel.
For this review, we received a digital copy of the book to read first, then the full Ringleaders bundle. The bundle includes a glossy hardcover of The Adventures of Rooney Cruz RINGLEADERS, a mother-daughter journal, devotional, and coloring book.
Besides the book, the devotional is my favorite part of this bundle. The cover says “for girls,” but it can absolutely be adapted for use with boys. If they were pulled out of the book, you’d never know that most of the 40 devotions were from a book for girls. Each devotion is short, just the two facing pages for each one, and includes a combination of Scripture readings, a lesson, discussion questions, activities, or memory verses.
If the cartoonish, fairy-like angel is something that would bother your family, then this book is not for you. For families that don’t mind that, I think it’s a great resource. There is a spelling error in the first chapter, and I find that the book can get wordy in places, but those are tiny critiques and don’t hinder what kids will get out of it. I absolutely loved that, even though Rooney Cruz has light hair and blue eyes, the illustrations show Jesus and all the Bible heroes with dark complexions. Rooney’s friends and classmates also have diverse hair and skin tones.
This series that dives into Bible heroes for girls was created by Erin and Brent Weidemann, and started with the story of Hannah as a gift to their niece by the same name. After they presented “their” Hannah with the book they made, they discovered that many girls weren’t familiar with stories of Biblical women. Bible Belles was created to make the women of the Bible as easily accessible and memorable as Disney princesses.
Lots of other Review Crew families also had the opportunity to review The Adventures of Rooney Cruz RINGLEADERS (and most of them actually have girls). Click through the banner below to read more reviews about this fun series that teaches about Bible heroes for girls!
