If you’ve ever tried to find a good devotional for a teenage, you might have had some issues. For one thing, they need to be pretty short. They also need to be relevant. Think 4:8: 40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life for Teens fulfills both requirements. In fact, it’s a decent devotional for just about anyone! I would like to see a different cover on the book. The smiley face seems rather cheesy and not really appropriate for teens. I appreciated that the book was only meant for 40 days. That can seem like an incredibly long time for a teen; even one month’s worth of devotionals would be a good length for a book. Additionally, the devotions are brief enough that most teens can squeeze them into a busy day. Teaching teens to look toward that which glorifies God is a tough sell; Newberry does a good job of making it doable through this book. Each devotional offers a take-away so that teens can focus on that issue for the day.
For an alternate use on the book, this could be used in a Sunday School setting for teens. Reading one passage per day and working toward that goal as a group would be an applicable use of the ideas. You could even read this book as a family, using the topics as a springboard for family discussions.
It’s hard to pick the right books for teens. Thanks for this. I will pass it along to my mom and her husband. They work with teens in their church and this would be a great guideline.