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The Good News Shoes

Riley Mae and the Sole Fire Safari

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If you’re gonna run for your life,

you gotta wear the right shoes.

Pre-teen shoe model Riley Mae laces up her flaming orange Sole Fire running shoes for another ad campaign—this time in Kenya, Africa! Kenya is the perfect place for runners to train, with its high elevation and encouragement from Olympic athletes. It’s also a great hiding place for Riley and her Swiftriver friends from so-called enemies back in the United States … but for how long? 

Adjusting to a new culture is difficult. Every chore is tiring, school is miles away, and there’s always the threat of a lurking lion that can ruin everything. But after spending time with the children and Christian women in her friend Sunday’s remote village, Riley finds herself growing stronger and praying for God to use her to spread the good news. Her prayers are answered in exciting and startling ways when she meets an orphaned girl seeking answers at a children’s home, but also when an error in judgment causes her to stumble into a surprise meeting with the enemy.

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2014

6 people are currently reading
37 people want to read

About the author

Jill Osborne

14 books8 followers
Jill Osborne is an author and speaker who loves kids (probably because she still is one). She has 30+ years of experience working in children’s and youth ministry and now writes adventure stories to bring hope to a new generation. She lives with her husband in California’s Central Valley—just a short drive from her favorite place in the whole world, Yosemite National Park. A hike to the top of Half-Dome in 2003 inspired her very first book: Riley Mae and the Rock Shocker Trek.

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls).
2,174 reviews5,144 followers
September 27, 2021
About this book:

“If you’re gonna run for your life, you gotta wear the right shoes.
Pre-teen shoe model Riley Mae laces up her flaming orange Sole Fire running shoes for another ad campaign—this time in Kenya, Africa! Kenya is the perfect place for runners to train, with its high elevation and encouragement from Olympic athletes. It’s also a great hiding place for Riley and her Swiftriver friends from so-called enemies back in the United States … but for how long?
Adjusting to a new culture is difficult. Every chore is tiring, school is miles away, and there’s always the threat of a lurking lion that can ruin everything. But after spending time with the children and Christian women in her friend Sunday’s remote village, Riley finds herself growing stronger and praying for God to use her to spread the good news. Her prayers are answered in exciting and startling ways when she meets an orphaned girl seeking answers at a children’s home, but also when an error in judgment causes her to stumble into a surprise meeting with the enemy.”



Series: Book #3 (final) in “The Good News Shoes” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- Ephesians 6:15 at the beginning of the book & talked about later; Many Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, & discussed; Bible reading; Many Prayers; Prayer meetings & Youth groups; Many Talks about God, His plans, Jesus, missionaries, & luck; Witnessing & Talks about Witnessing and Jesus; Talks about being a Christian & wondering if someone is one; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Many mentions of God, Jesus, witnessing, & missionaries; Many mentions of those & events in the Bible (especially Jonah); Mentions of church & prayer groups.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: two forms of ‘wimp’, four forms of ‘dumb’, four ‘rats!’, and six forms of ‘stupid’; Almost killing a lion (does not happen, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of young women being kidnapped (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of trying to be killed (in a dangerous situation); Mentions of poachers & gruesome pictures of dead animals (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of screams, the food chain, & animal carcasses (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of killing & plucking chickens (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of drugs; A few mentions of divorces; A couple mentions of murder; A mention of drinking; A mention of going to the bathroom in nature.


Sexual Content- Mentions of Rusty’s mom who left; Mentions of crushes & cute boys; Mentions of Sean & Riley Mae getting married when they’re older (which Riley Mae isn’t set against once she finds out he now likes another girl instead of her); A couple mentions of a Riley Mae’s (not) boyfriend.

-Riley Mae Hart, age 12-13
1st person P.O.V. of Riley
244 pages

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Pre Teens- Four Stars
New Teens- Five Stars
Early High School Teens- Four Stars
Older High School Teens- Four Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars
This was another great book in the “Good News Shoes” series and I would love to see a fourth book for this series! I loved the message of caring for orphans and that the seed of becoming a missionary has been planted in Riley Mae’s heart. Lots of Spiritual Content and humor in this book, which makes it easily my favorite middle grade Faithgirlz series with the “Samantha Sanderson” series.


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
Profile Image for BookCupid.
1,260 reviews71 followers
April 29, 2015
In this third installment of the series, Riley Mae travels to Africa to hide from Eric, a jealous corporate member who tried to kill her and her crew. She moves in with a family of three growing girls and learns the true meaning of hardship: getting up at 5 am to collect water, walking to school under severe heat, eating ugali (white corn) every day -- not the typical life conditions she was used to. Riley wants to go home more than anything. How long will they have to hide from Eric? Is he even searching for them?

The theme behind this book is determination. Faith (one of the three village girls) stays up late studying to become a doctor, all while waking up early the next morning to fetch water. Through her Riley learns that nobody has it easy, but will power and kindness is what makes us special.

Sweet and uplifting.
3 reviews
October 1, 2019
I thought that Jill Osborne did a wonderful job with this book. All of the characters are well developed and there is a very nice story line. Riley Mae is a great book and I would totally recommend it.
Profile Image for Jalynn Patterson.
2,217 reviews39 followers
September 15, 2014
About the Book:

Train your feet: Ignite your soul.

Pre-teen shoe model Riley Mae laces up her flaming orange Sole Fire running shoes for another ad campaign in the third book of the Faithgirlz! Good News Shoes series.Kenya, Africa is the perfect place for runners to train, with its high elevation and encouragement from members of the famous Kalenjin tribe. It s also a great hiding place for Riley and her Swiftriver friends from enemies back in theUnited States, but for how long? Adjusting to African culture is difficult, but by doing work she's not accustomed to and by spending time with the kids and the Christian women in the village, Riley finds herself growing stronger physically, and praying expectantly for ways that God can use her to spread the Good News. Her prayers are answered in exciting and startling ways when Riley meets an orphaned girl seeking answers at a children s home in Nairobi, but also when an error in judgment causes her to stumble into a surprise meeting with the enemy."



About the Author:

Jill Osborne works in children’s ministry and has a passion for telling great stories. She has written plays, skits for youth groups and Sunday morning drama teams, curriculum for children’s ministry, countless articles for her church newsletter, and a blog about taking a sabbatical in a motor home. Good News Shoes is her first series for kids, and she plans to run with it!

My Review:

Off on another high flying adventure with Riley Mae and the crew. She and the crew are headed to the wilds of Africa for another ad campaign for the Sole Fire running shoe. Riley Mae is immediately drawn to the women and children of the village of the Kalenjin tribe. She feels like God is wanting her to help these people and she finds herself wanting to help them. She prays for direction and guidance and of course God answers her prayers in fun and exciting ways!

God has a plan for our life that is usually so unlike our own. If you are open to it and you ask God for it, He can take you on a wild, amazing ride. And this is exactly what Riley Mae experiences as well as her mom and friends. They are thrown into another culture and climate very unlike their own but instead of failing they soar! This is the third book in the Faithgirlz series, and it is exciting to see how God uses this young girl to spread His love beyond the borders of the United States.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from Book Look.
Profile Image for Sally.
344 reviews
September 11, 2014
Third in the Faithgirlz! Good News Shoes series, Riley Mae is off and running again for a new adventure. This time she will end up in Kenya, Africa. She and her mother are hiding out from enemies they left behind while on a shoot in Northwest Montana. Africa is not the place Riley Mae wants to be…she’d rather be at home in California or on vacation in Hawaii, but it seems God has plans for her in Africa! While in Africa she comes face to face with a wild rhinoceros, adjusting to a new culture, learning food is not the greatest but you have to eat it anyway. Nothing is easy in Africa, not even going to school as it is several miles away and you have to run to get there on time, all the while keeping a lookout for a lurking lion. She did find that Africa was the best place to learn how to train to run due to the high elevation.

Although you do not need to read the first two books in this series I would highly recommend them. It is amazing to see how much Riley has grown in her faith and the ability to share the Good News about God from the first book to this one. While in Africa she visits friend, Sunday’s village and visits with orphaned children. While there she leads her friend Fawn and newly orphaned Hannah to the Lord. At that time she feels her calling, when she grows up is to be a Missionary, but little does she realize she has already begun her mission work.

These books are truly inspirational. They are a wonderful series for any Tween age girl who is struggling with her faith, girlfriends or even self-image. They are a great way to inspire them to not be afraid to share their faith. I thinks these books should be required reading.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher, ZonderKidz, for an honest review. I was not required to write a favorable review nor was I compensated for my review. The opinions in this review are my own.
Profile Image for Laura.
Author 39 books654 followers
September 18, 2014
Title: RILEY MAE AND THE SOLE FIRE SAFARI
Author: Jill Osborne
Publisher: Zonderkidz
August 2014
ISBN: 978-0310742838
Genre: Tweener

If you’re going to run for your life you gotta wear the right shoes.

Pre-teen shoe model Riley Mae laces up her flaming orange solefire running shoes for another ad campaign. This time in Kenya, Africa. Kenya is the perfect place for runners to train. With it’s high elevation and encouragement for Olympic athletes. It’s also a great hiding place for Riley and her swift river friends from so called enemies back in the United States… but for how long?

Adjusting to a new culture is difficult. Every chore is tiring, school is miles away, and there’s always the threat of a lurking lion that can ruin everything. But after spending time with the children and Christian women in her friend Sunday’s remote village, Riley finds herself growing stronger and praying for God to use her to spread the good news. Her prayers are answered in exciting and startling ways when she meets an orphaned girl seeking answers at a children’s home, but also when an error in judgment causes her to stumble into a surprise meeting with the enemy.

RILEY MAE AND THE SOLE FIRE SAFARI is the third book in the Good News Shoes series. I really liked it. It teaches you to love your enemies and not seek revenge. It is very exciting and if Riley Mae was a real person she’d be my absolute best friend. I recommend RILEY MAE AND THE SOLE FIRE SAFARI to other girls my age (twelve) or close to it. It is a good book and a great series.

I recommend it for church libraries, Christian school libraries, homeschool libraries, or other tween girls (ages 8-12). $4.27 Kindle. $7.19 paperback. 256 pages. Also available in audio book or MP3.
263 reviews1 follower
September 30, 2014
"Riley Mae and the Sole Fire Safari" by Jill Osborne



"Riley Mae and the Sole Fire Safari" is by Jill Osborne and is the third book in the Good News Shoes series. Riley Mae Hart, a pre-teen "spokesmodel" is now in Kenya, Africa! Itching to run, Riley Mae is excited to learn that Kenya is the perfect place to train for running, with the high elevation and other Olympic athletes. It's also the ideal spot for Riley and her Swiftriver friends to hide from enemies back in the States, but how long until they come searching after her?



Adjusting to the strange, new Kenyan culture is difficult for Riley, but she doesn't give up, because she enjoys being with the influential Kenyan women in the village. Riley soon finds herself growing stronger in her relationship with the Lord and spreading the Good News all around her. She grows to love the ways of the village, along with hanging out with an orphaned girl wanting answers to her many questions. But things take a turn for the worse when Riley stumbles into an encounter with the enemy.



I liked this book because I enjoyed learning about Riley's adventures in Kenya, and also because I think it had a really interesting and good plot. I also enjoyed seeing how Riley's faith in God grew, even in dire circumstances.



Thank you so much to ZonderKidz publishing and the Book Look blogger program for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and were not required to be positive.
Profile Image for Sarah.
42 reviews4 followers
October 13, 2014
We (my girls AND I!) were looking forward to #3 of The Good News Shoes series. Riley Mae and the Sole Fire Safari did not disappoint!

Riley Mae continues as a Swiftriver shoe model while….the mystery/drama continues (that started in book #1) and they are all escaping a bad guy or two! So, now they are heading with most of Sunday’s family (while he stays back to continue his battle with leukemia) to his remote village in Kenya.

Riley faces more danger and challenges, but has a truly amazing experience! This trip stretches and strengthens her physically as she is surprised how much work it is just to help with chores or to get to school (the cast on her arm doesn’t help either!). She also grows as a follower of Christ. She even wakes up at 4:45 a.m. (though not with much excitement at first!) to join the women of the village in their morning prayer meeting. Riley matures, develops a better understanding of contentment, a new appreciation of family, and even has a new purpose as she follows God’s leading.

Enjoy!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own.
Profile Image for Shauna.
288 reviews9 followers
September 21, 2014
This is the third book in the FaithGirlz Good News Shoes series. It's a wonderful choice for preteen girls as it's exciting and very clean. They also have a very solid message and while they aren't short, they are formatted nicely and easy to read.

Riley Mae finds herself in Kenya, Africa for this adventure and it never slows down! What a fantastic setting for the story. She's always dreamed of being a missionary when she grows up, but here she is, being used by God already, and she learns that the 'mission field' is not just overseas or somewhere exotic but anywhere she is.

I received this book from Book Look Bloggers and Zonderkidz for the purpose of an honest review. My opinion is my own.
Profile Image for Cassandra.
1,345 reviews
September 14, 2014
This book is part of a series. I would recommend picking them all up. You do not have to read them in order as this makes a great standalone if needed. I like the message that comes with each story and the way that the author presents it. The lead character is very easy to relate to and the kids enjoy her very much. I would recommend this book to kids of all ages, yet the really tiny ones might not yet understand. It is so nice to find a book that the whole family can enjoy no matter what age and not have to worry about what is going into the kids mind.
The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through BookLook Bloggers.
6 reviews
June 15, 2016
A great read if you are looking for good, clean content that is well written and engaging. My daughter read the whole collection very quickly, she loved them! The only negative is that there are only three books in this series. I have to try and find more of this quality and character.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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