This wonderful-underwater world of vibrant colors shows Susie and her friend going to the Undersea Amusement Park. Susie makes many excuses not to ride the Whale-Back Coaster. After speaking with her mommy and saying a prayer to Jesus, she rides the ride and her fear turns into faith! She learns that praying to Jesus during difficult times, and having faith, is all she needs to overcome her fears. Susie’s friend, Rachel, helps her too and the two of them have a fun-filled day! This is book number 3 in our award-winning series. It will help children attain Godly moral values, have compassion and love for others, and build a strong foundation in Jesus Christ.
~from GLM Publishing website
Mancini rolls out a third installment to her Christian fiction series for young readers, Adventures Of The Sea Kids, geared toward teaching children Christian-based morals and values in the context of everyday issues (ie. bullying, overcoming fears, understanding and compassion for those different from you as well as similar, etc). I'm Not Afraid introduces the character Susie Shark. Susie has come to spend the day at Undersea Amusement Park with her friend Rachel the octopus. Susie outwardly says she's pumped to try the Whale-Back, one of the tallest, scariest rides in the park. But inside she is secretly terrified and keeps putting off actually getting on the ride, instead suggesting they get meals, snacks, try other rides... anything to put off getting in line for the Whale-Back. Eventually Rachel catches on and gets annoyed so Susie rushes off to call her mom. Susie's mom assures her that it's fine, everyone has a fear about something. All she needs to do is calm herself and say a prayer for strength and courage to try something new. After trying her mom's advice, Susie finds herself more relaxed and able to fully enjoy the day with her best friend.
above: these are enlarged images of little background characters
small readers can watch for -- one of my favorite parts
about the illustrations!
Having already read and reviewed the first two in this series, I still have to give props to just how gorgeously illustrated this series is! However, story-wise, I didn't love this one quite as much as the first two. The moral message is great, the way it teaches small readers that saying a calming prayer can help you push past crippling fears, allowing you to be more open to way more potentially amazing life experiences that you might otherwise have missed out on. But the story here just didn't have the same level of adorableness I came to love in the first two books. This one is still way cute though and I'd still highly recommend trying out the series on your little ones!
FTC Disclaimer: BookCrash.com and GLM Publishing kindly sent me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.
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