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Lightkeepers
Ten Girls Who Changed The World
Isobel Kuhn questioned whether God even existed. Mary Slessor grew up in a slum with an alcoholic father. Joni Eareckson broke her neck during a diving accident and Corrie Ten Boom just lived with her family in a little watch shop in Harlaam, Holland.
What is so special about these girls and how did they change their world?
Isobel Kuhn believed in God and then obeyed his call to travel to Asia to tell the Lisu people about God. Mary Slessor, put herself through evening classes and eventually became one of the first white women to venture into the interior of Africa. Joni Eareckson struggled through her treatment and endless hospital visits to become the inspiration to many Christians. Corrie Ten Boom spent most of her life just living in Holland until the Nazis started killing the Jews. Corrie Ten Boom put her life on the line to save the lives of many Jews in the hiding place, a hidden room behind her wardrobe in a little watch shop in Haarlem, Holland. Mary Slessor (Missionary in Africa), Corrie Ten Boom (hid Jews in Nazi Germany), Granny Brand (Missionary in India), Joni Eareckson , Gladys Aylward (Missionary in China), Jackie Pullinger (Missionary in Hong Kong), Amy Carmichael (Missionary in India), Elisabeth Fry (Worked among the sick, prisoners and homeless), Catherine Booth (Co-Founder of The Salvation Army) and Isobel Kuhn (Missionary in Asia)This is a wonderful book - in fact it's a wonderful series. Irene Howat writes with a real warmth and insight. People that you have never met come alive on the page. Christian legends and unsung heroes all become friends you can understand and look up to. In a world where role models of real integrity are few and far between the Lightkeeper's series fills the gap!
Catherine MacKenzie ~ Author and CF4K Editor
What is so special about these girls and how did they change their world?
Isobel Kuhn believed in God and then obeyed his call to travel to Asia to tell the Lisu people about God. Mary Slessor, put herself through evening classes and eventually became one of the first white women to venture into the interior of Africa. Joni Eareckson struggled through her treatment and endless hospital visits to become the inspiration to many Christians. Corrie Ten Boom spent most of her life just living in Holland until the Nazis started killing the Jews. Corrie Ten Boom put her life on the line to save the lives of many Jews in the hiding place, a hidden room behind her wardrobe in a little watch shop in Haarlem, Holland. Mary Slessor (Missionary in Africa), Corrie Ten Boom (hid Jews in Nazi Germany), Granny Brand (Missionary in India), Joni Eareckson , Gladys Aylward (Missionary in China), Jackie Pullinger (Missionary in Hong Kong), Amy Carmichael (Missionary in India), Elisabeth Fry (Worked among the sick, prisoners and homeless), Catherine Booth (Co-Founder of The Salvation Army) and Isobel Kuhn (Missionary in Asia)This is a wonderful book - in fact it's a wonderful series. Irene Howat writes with a real warmth and insight. People that you have never met come alive on the page. Christian legends and unsung heroes all become friends you can understand and look up to. In a world where role models of real integrity are few and far between the Lightkeeper's series fills the gap!
Catherine MacKenzie ~ Author and CF4K Editor
111 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2002
46 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
About the author
Irene Howat
92 books34 followersIrene Howat is an award-winning author who has many titles, for adults and children, to her name. She is married to a retired minister and they have a grown up family. She is also a talented artist and now stays in Ayrshire, Scotland. She especially enjoys letters from children and replies to all of them!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
February 28, 2022
The fourth entry into the series has some hits and some misses (pun intended) that tend to be a weakness in the girls' entries of the series. However, continuing the importance of providing some heroes of Church history, this continues to be a series worth reading.
In this volume, ten girls which include Mary Slessor, Corrie Ten Boom, Evelyn Brand, Joni Eareckson, Gladys Aylward, Jackie Pullinger, Amy Carmichael, Elisabeth Fry, Catherine Booth, and Isobel Kuhn follow a similar story pattern of about 15 pages each. The sections starts off with a childhood and family setting and move to either some early important events or through to teenage and college-age and then into adulthood of what they're known for. The stories include mostly fictional conversations so as to give young readers more than just facts to remember. The conversation are in the spirit of learning about the person. Each person also has a focus on their Christian faith and it usually inspires the conclusion of the story as a way to glorify God. At the end there is a "FACT" of the story expanded upon, a "KEYNOTE" that focuses on the aspect of the story to think about God, a "THINK" area in which a challenge question is presented for discussion, and a "PRAYER" section.
A lot of the focus is on women who did some amazing and backbreaking missionary work. Of course, you have the famous Corrie Ten Boom with hiding Jews from the Nazis but there are lesser-known people like Elisabeth Fry who did some phenomenal work in her local prison. Catherine Booth and the founding of the Salvation Army was also really interesting. The biggest disappointment is with Isobel Kuhn who seems to be mostly about her husband and I'm still not exactly sure what was done in her story.
Coming to the final collection of books, these ones are still just as important and just as interesting as the series has been. The more I've read them the more I've recommended them to others. Final Grade - B+
In this volume, ten girls which include Mary Slessor, Corrie Ten Boom, Evelyn Brand, Joni Eareckson, Gladys Aylward, Jackie Pullinger, Amy Carmichael, Elisabeth Fry, Catherine Booth, and Isobel Kuhn follow a similar story pattern of about 15 pages each. The sections starts off with a childhood and family setting and move to either some early important events or through to teenage and college-age and then into adulthood of what they're known for. The stories include mostly fictional conversations so as to give young readers more than just facts to remember. The conversation are in the spirit of learning about the person. Each person also has a focus on their Christian faith and it usually inspires the conclusion of the story as a way to glorify God. At the end there is a "FACT" of the story expanded upon, a "KEYNOTE" that focuses on the aspect of the story to think about God, a "THINK" area in which a challenge question is presented for discussion, and a "PRAYER" section.
A lot of the focus is on women who did some amazing and backbreaking missionary work. Of course, you have the famous Corrie Ten Boom with hiding Jews from the Nazis but there are lesser-known people like Elisabeth Fry who did some phenomenal work in her local prison. Catherine Booth and the founding of the Salvation Army was also really interesting. The biggest disappointment is with Isobel Kuhn who seems to be mostly about her husband and I'm still not exactly sure what was done in her story.
Coming to the final collection of books, these ones are still just as important and just as interesting as the series has been. The more I've read them the more I've recommended them to others. Final Grade - B+
March 27, 2024
I read this with my first grader for homeschooling.
Good variety of stories about real women.
However, I felt that some of them lacked the “point.” These are supposed to be women who changed the world, but in a few the focus shifts to their husbands.
There are a lot of fictionalized details to make the story more readable, which isn’t bad, but something to be aware of.
I hated the “key facts” at the end of the chapters. Most of them had nothing to do with the story presented. We skipped those.
My biggest complaint is that the wording is sooooo awkward in some places that it’s difficult to read aloud.
It’s decent. I will probably try another from this series, but it’s not my favorite resource.
3.5 ⭐️
Good variety of stories about real women.
However, I felt that some of them lacked the “point.” These are supposed to be women who changed the world, but in a few the focus shifts to their husbands.
There are a lot of fictionalized details to make the story more readable, which isn’t bad, but something to be aware of.
I hated the “key facts” at the end of the chapters. Most of them had nothing to do with the story presented. We skipped those.
My biggest complaint is that the wording is sooooo awkward in some places that it’s difficult to read aloud.
It’s decent. I will probably try another from this series, but it’s not my favorite resource.
3.5 ⭐️
October 23, 2012
The stories retold in this book are mostly, in their original form, inspiring. They could have been so here, but they are not.
The way in which the tales of these ten girls and women are told is not a good one.
The writing style is disjointed, often with pointless and irrelevant paragraphs inserted simply - it appears - to prolong the section to make it something other than a textbook. (For example, two-thirds of a page are devoted to Catherine Booth's way with her father's horse and her sadness at her dog's death, never referred to again!)
It would have read better and more easily as a textbook. I wouldn't give this to any child to read, as extensive jumping about in place and time made it confusing even for me at times. It is also painfully ungrammatical on many occasions.
What content there is is filled with unexamined racism and other prejudices. I understand the presence of certain deliberately omitted references as this was published by Christian Focus Publications for 7-12-year-olds, but it does contain some blatant racism that is occasionally the product of the writer's imagination.
The disclaimer in the metadata reads like this:
"All incidents retold in these stories are based on true situations. Where specific information about childhood incidents has been unobtainable the author has written these paragraphs using other information concerning family life, hobbies, homelife, relationships freely available in other biographies as well as appropriate historical source material."
Which basically means that what she couldn't find, she made up from what things were like at the time. It shows.
Then you have the "fact files", "keynotes", "think" and "prayer" at the end of each section. Nothing wrong with the keynotes, thoughts and prayers, though I have little interest in them and don't identify with their content, for various reasons. But the so-called "fact files"... good grief!
The file on Amy Carmichael is all about the eye - based on one prayer and a comment that Amy wished as a child to have blue eyes but realised her brown fit her better for not looking out of place in India. It could have said something about parents, disability, what happened when her broken leg didn't heal right and would have been much more suited, but...That isn't even the weakest link.
Gladys Aylward's fact file focuses on air travel. I can see the link, but it's a tenuous one as Gladys made her great journey by train. But the fact file for Jackie Pullinger? Outer space! Completely irrelevant. Why make such a choice?
Honestly, the state of this book gives away the fact it was not published by a mainstream professional publishing company. Errors abound--and to top it all off, the whole book (bar meta, the covers and the ad for the publishing company on the last page) is printed in Comic Sans. I cringed just seeing that. It's never a good sign.
I'm going to put this book on BookMooch to swap. I'm sure I can find many better sources from whom to learn about the featured women - though some of them were simply missionaries and I question their inclusion in a book of this kind. (Or I would, had it not been published by a religious group.) In any case, I don't wish to read this again and I don't even recommend it to my Christian friends. I shall also be avoiding any other books by this "author".
The way in which the tales of these ten girls and women are told is not a good one.
The writing style is disjointed, often with pointless and irrelevant paragraphs inserted simply - it appears - to prolong the section to make it something other than a textbook. (For example, two-thirds of a page are devoted to Catherine Booth's way with her father's horse and her sadness at her dog's death, never referred to again!)
It would have read better and more easily as a textbook. I wouldn't give this to any child to read, as extensive jumping about in place and time made it confusing even for me at times. It is also painfully ungrammatical on many occasions.
What content there is is filled with unexamined racism and other prejudices. I understand the presence of certain deliberately omitted references as this was published by Christian Focus Publications for 7-12-year-olds, but it does contain some blatant racism that is occasionally the product of the writer's imagination.
The disclaimer in the metadata reads like this:
"All incidents retold in these stories are based on true situations. Where specific information about childhood incidents has been unobtainable the author has written these paragraphs using other information concerning family life, hobbies, homelife, relationships freely available in other biographies as well as appropriate historical source material."
Which basically means that what she couldn't find, she made up from what things were like at the time. It shows.
Then you have the "fact files", "keynotes", "think" and "prayer" at the end of each section. Nothing wrong with the keynotes, thoughts and prayers, though I have little interest in them and don't identify with their content, for various reasons. But the so-called "fact files"... good grief!
The file on Amy Carmichael is all about the eye - based on one prayer and a comment that Amy wished as a child to have blue eyes but realised her brown fit her better for not looking out of place in India. It could have said something about parents, disability, what happened when her broken leg didn't heal right and would have been much more suited, but...That isn't even the weakest link.
Gladys Aylward's fact file focuses on air travel. I can see the link, but it's a tenuous one as Gladys made her great journey by train. But the fact file for Jackie Pullinger? Outer space! Completely irrelevant. Why make such a choice?
Honestly, the state of this book gives away the fact it was not published by a mainstream professional publishing company. Errors abound--and to top it all off, the whole book (bar meta, the covers and the ad for the publishing company on the last page) is printed in Comic Sans. I cringed just seeing that. It's never a good sign.
I'm going to put this book on BookMooch to swap. I'm sure I can find many better sources from whom to learn about the featured women - though some of them were simply missionaries and I question their inclusion in a book of this kind. (Or I would, had it not been published by a religious group.) In any case, I don't wish to read this again and I don't even recommend it to my Christian friends. I shall also be avoiding any other books by this "author".
December 22, 2016
Notes:
so poorly written we could not enjoy these
so poorly written we could not enjoy these
December 14, 2023
This children's book shows how God has used women for His glory in different places and times. Although it does seem to imply that missionary work is the best way to change the world and there are a few grammar mistakes in each chapter, it is overall a book that I think of with fondness because it inspires the reader to go out in the world and make a difference. In this world of individualism and 'you do you', it's refreshing to read a book about helping others. I like the mix of storytelling and factual details. I would give it 4.5 stars if Goodreads did half stars.
April 10, 2021
Very inspiring book! Just wish it had been longer.
August 28, 2025
Interesting
June 20, 2023
From The moment my aunt gave me these books, all of the girls have been my role models. But Joni Erickson Tada has always been the biggest inspiration...
March 3, 2023
Number of pages: 150
Genre: Non-fiction Missionary Biographies
Series: Ten Girls Series (order is unimportant)
Age recommendation: 6-12
Summary: Each book in the series gives a short biography of ten different Christian ‘girls’ who used their lives for God. Ten Girls Who Changed the World tells the stories of Isobel Kuhn, Mary Slessor, Joni Eareckson, Corrie Ten Boom, Evelyn Brand, Gladys Aylward, Jackie Pullinger, Amy Carmichael, Elizabeth Fry, and Catherine Booth.
My thoughts: Since this whole series is pretty similar, I’m just going to review the series all together. When I was in elementary school this was one of my favourite missionary series. I thought it was cool what all the girls were able to accomplish. I especially liked reading about the girls that were married to very famous preachers because often we don’t see both sides of the story.
My only criticisms of these are that they’re kind of short (which is the point to make them easier for younger girls to read), and I know that the writing isn’t very good (though I mostly ignore it and still enjoy it the way I did when I was 8; they bring back so many good memories for me😊). Overall, I loved all these stories and the different women I got to learn about. I would definitely recommend this series to young girls.
My personal rating: 5/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
Genre: Non-fiction Missionary Biographies
Series: Ten Girls Series (order is unimportant)
Age recommendation: 6-12
Summary: Each book in the series gives a short biography of ten different Christian ‘girls’ who used their lives for God. Ten Girls Who Changed the World tells the stories of Isobel Kuhn, Mary Slessor, Joni Eareckson, Corrie Ten Boom, Evelyn Brand, Gladys Aylward, Jackie Pullinger, Amy Carmichael, Elizabeth Fry, and Catherine Booth.
My thoughts: Since this whole series is pretty similar, I’m just going to review the series all together. When I was in elementary school this was one of my favourite missionary series. I thought it was cool what all the girls were able to accomplish. I especially liked reading about the girls that were married to very famous preachers because often we don’t see both sides of the story.
My only criticisms of these are that they’re kind of short (which is the point to make them easier for younger girls to read), and I know that the writing isn’t very good (though I mostly ignore it and still enjoy it the way I did when I was 8; they bring back so many good memories for me😊). Overall, I loved all these stories and the different women I got to learn about. I would definitely recommend this series to young girls.
My personal rating: 5/5 stars.
Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...
May 14, 2019
I so wanted to enjoy these books with my daughter, but it continues to be frustrating. This book’s bright spots were Corrie Ten Boon, Joni Erickson and Catherine Booth (co-founder of the Salvation Army). These women had interesting stories and compelling contributions even if the actual writing shared little in the way of actual facts. The bigger problem is that the book has 10 women, and many of them felt like filler to reach the 10 needed. Overall just a big disappointment
May 19, 2020
This is written imo for elementary age readers. It presents a variety of women missionaries, giving an overview of their lives. Because the chapters (1 per woman) are short, it can get a little boring for lack of details and back story. Each chapter ends with four bullet paragraphs: Fact File (more information surrounding a fact from that persons life story), Keynote (character trait highlight) , Think (connection to the reader), Prayer (about how you can be used by God in similar ways).
November 11, 2025
This series was a gift to my 7-year-old. She finds it interesting, but I don’t know how highly I’d recommend it. This one wasn’t particularly well-written, but I definitely like the idea of what they are trying to do. One of the books in the series was definitely not appropriate for a seven-year-old, and the other one we’ve just started is better than this one. So the jury is still out on the series.
December 15, 2025
3,5/5 ⭐⭐⭐
W porządku, bardzo krótkie i treściwe świadectwa. (Czasem miałam łzy w oczach)
Nie spodziewałam się, że to będzie AŻ tak krótkie 😅
Przesłuchałam jakiejś 3/4 audiobooka podczas prasowania 🤪😎
Dla 8-13 latek jak znalazł, ja osobiście wolę nieco dłuższe i bardziej szczegółowe świadectwa/biografie 🤓
W porządku, bardzo krótkie i treściwe świadectwa. (Czasem miałam łzy w oczach)
Nie spodziewałam się, że to będzie AŻ tak krótkie 😅
Przesłuchałam jakiejś 3/4 audiobooka podczas prasowania 🤪😎
Dla 8-13 latek jak znalazł, ja osobiście wolę nieco dłuższe i bardziej szczegółowe świadectwa/biografie 🤓
March 25, 2021
growing up i cant count the amount of times i read this over and over, without trying to sound dramatic- it changed the way my younger self saw the world and further instilled in me and helped me notice the want and need i have to help others
July 19, 2018
Simple yet incredible. A book to read when you feel down in the dumps and worn out, to gain wisdom, spirit and power.
August 27, 2019
It's okay for girls to know they could also do the impossible as they will learn from the ten girls experience.
August 23, 2020
Review to come soon.
January 6, 2022
So many inspiring ladies of Christ! My girls and I enjoyed reading and learning about them together.
August 18, 2022
It was pretty good
November 10, 2023
Super! Easy to read, interesting and yet short. Great discussion after each story. What a find.
December 11, 2023
Dry and uninspiring, honestly. Note some content may be edited out while reading aloud.
February 22, 2024
Really cute and nice short stories!
January 20, 2019
Treść - świetna, ale jak można wydać książkę (nawet dla dzieci) przy użyciu czcionki Comic Sans?!!
Read
May 26, 2009This book is a series of short stories about ten different girls. All stories started out with them being young and describing their personalities and dreams. They all start out with the girl thinking of something they want to do in the future but is not truly meaningful. During the process of growing up, they encounter many different experiences and finally realized what they were born and destined to do. This was an inspiring read because after I finish a story, I would stop and think. It is amazing how one person can change so much. From thinking little as a young child to doing tons for the world during adulthood is a wonderful change. It is even more amazing that even though they are making a huge difference in the world, they remain humble and continue thinking of what they can do to further help more people.
January 24, 2011
This was a sweet reading time with my 6 year old. It opened up great conversation & helped remind me over & over again of the different ways He has gifted each of us. There were a few typos & a couple of stories that may have been a little too "old" for my little girl - but I think the goods very much outweighed any bads. Looking forward to checking out more in this series.
November 4, 2013
I loved this book. It has some of my heroes like amy Carmichael and Mary slessor. They are great role models for girls. It is worded in a way that is easy to understand but still has meaning. One of the books of my childhood.
June 12, 2024
It's good to know the stories of these women, and the little 'thinking points' at the end of the chapters are good family discussion points. The grammar and lack of proof reading is a bit of a shame (along with comic sans) but otherwise they point my children to Jesus. So all good!
March 21, 2013
I've read the whole series and it is amazing how strong these women are. I'm quite a history nerd and I found these books fitted perfectly into my the history I knew.
June 25, 2014
This book is great and inspiring! I think that every girl should read it.
January 6, 2016
Cute and inspiring stories of great women of God. I read this a long time ago, as a child, but I still love it and find it entertaining as I'm getting older.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews