Here's Lily by Nancy Rue

Book one of the Lily Series, Here’s Lily, was written by Nancy Rue and copyrighted in 2000. This Christian fiction book was published by Zonderkidz, is 128 pages and is for girls 8-12.

Lily and her female classmates are taken to a grooming class where the instructor chooses Lily to go to modeling classes. Lily and her modeling class as their final assignment do a show and it is then that Lily is truly confident. Lily really enjoys the classes, which stems from the praise Kathleen, the modeling instructor, gives her. Her parents tell her that to be able to join a modeling agency she will need to figure out how this is contributing to God. She works hard to be the best she can be and to prove to Shad that she is better than he says she is. Lily decides to start a club with three other girls to teach them what she has learned. When Lily and her dad are burned in a small grease fire, it is Kathleen who helps her realize that it is God-confidence that will help her be first in the model show. Lily does not want to do it with a burned face, but her mom and dad say go for it. Lily does do it and is a success. Her parents are even going to let her join the agency if she would like to. Lily and her friends learn with the God-confidence they are not bothered by the bullies, like Shad, anymore.

Nancy Rue loved Nancy Drew when she was younger and reads the Bible every day. In 1995 her English major began to pay off, as she was able to freelance full-time. She lives on a lake with her husband and two dogs.

The theme in this book is that of "God-confidence". "God-confidence" means confidence in God and in the special gifts and qualities that he has given us. This book shows us that everyone, including me; need to reach into ourselves to find our "God-confidence".

I liked how everybody’s name was short so it was easy to remember him or her. The best character was Kathleen and how she helped each person bring out their best. I did not like how Lily’s brother, Art, calls girls, “chicks”.

I would recommend this book to others, to encourage other to improve their confidence. There are a lot of extras in this book, like a list of many of the Lily books and their companion non-fiction books and an excerpt from the next book, Lily Robbins, M.D. Don’t forget to look for the butterflies on the pages.