Check out the Guest Post by Nancy Rue
Stay tuned for a review of Here's Lily by Nancy Rue
posted later today :)
By Nancy Rue
Author of more than 100 books, including the Lily series
Lily
Robbins, of my Lily series, was “born” back in 1998 at the
request of Women of Faith founder Stephen Arterburn who wanted to
start a Young Women of Faith Library. “I’d like to see a series
about an eleven-year-old girl named Lily,” was the direction I was
given. And it was all the direction I apparently needed because
almost immediately, a gangly, precocious mini-woman with
out-of-control red hair came into my heart and stayed there. I only
had to listen to find out that everyone else in her family had a
“thing”—a passion that defined them—but she was just
sixth-grader Lily who had one best friend and was the brunt of every
joke class clown Shad Shifferdecker could think up. She was bright,
well-spoken, and wasn’t afraid to remind absurd little creep boys
that they weren’t just breaking the rules—they were demolishing
them. What self-respecting middle school smart alec could resist
that? I knew that once Lily found her “thing” she would go at it
150%, as tween girls so often do, and that she would form a close
group of friends (the Girlz Only Club) who would be right in there
with her. But I also knew that it was going to take several
growing-up years for Lily to discover who she truly was. That meant
that each fiction book could star Lily in a new role—aspiring
fashion model in book one, developing doctor in book two, and so on.
But
early on I decided that since Lily’s fellow mini-women were going
through many of the same things that Lily was enduring (such as a new
interest in appearance, a changing body, and issues with peers), they
might benefit from a non-fiction book to accompany each of the
fiction titles. I wanted those books to be interactive and fun with
plenty of concrete material that would help readers navigate the
tween years.
What
delighted me the most about the Lily project was that I was free to
show Lily’s spiritual development along the way and to be even more
upfront about that in the non-fiction books. Kids in the formative
8-to-12 age range are no longer just coloring pictures of Noah’s
Ark in Sunday school; they’re discovering that they can have their
own relationship with God and they have questions about how that
works and what it means in their young lives. My greatest joy in
writing these books has been receiving emails and letters that say
things like, “I never knew exactly how to pray until I started a
‘Talking To God Journal’ like Lily did,” and “Lily shows me
how to be a Christian in school without, like, preaching to people.”
I
couldn’t be more jazzed that the Lily Series is getting a new face
and an opportunity to reach yet another generation of mini-women. I’m
in touch with Lily’s fans on my blog, “Tween You and Me” as
well as on my website – www.nancyrue.com
– and through mother/daughter events where we spend an afternoon
working through some of Lily’s—and the daughters’—biggest
tween challenges. I so appreciate this chance to talk to you, the
moms and dads who have challenges of your own in raising your
precious daughters in a very tough society. Blessings on all you do.
In
God for your girls,
Nancy
Rue
