Pride goes before a fall

In this ongoing biblical time-travel series, Whitney has helped slay Goliath, stowed away on Noah's ark, been swallowed with Jonah by a whale, and more. This time Whitney picks up the bad habit of elitism and finds herself propelled back to the Tower of Babel-right at its very moment of mass confusion! Whitney begins this unexpected journey on the soccer field, where she is star player on an unbeaten team. Overly confident, she and her team stop practicing and use the time to taunt lesser competitors. The coach is so furious he threatens to disband the team. Chastened, Whitney uses her grandmother's Emerald Bible and is whisked back in time. There she witnesses another arrogant group and the sobering results of its pride. A much humbler Whitney returns home, faced with the task of helping to change the team and change the coach's mind.
Perfect for middle graders, the Whitney series is made up of exciting, fun-filled books illustrated throughout with lively black-and-white drawings. The series presents everyone's best-loved, best-known Bible stories with immediacy and impact. Whitney herself is a flawed but lovable heroine kids will readily identify with. Her stories incorporate pre-teens' all-consuming concerns at home and at school. Best of all, the Whitney books show kids they can be an active participant in their own faith.
This is a great title for all Christian kids aged eight to twelve, especially fans of the American Girl series, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and the Cooper Kids adventure books. Recommend it also to parents and grandparents, parochial school religion and English teachers, and CCD and Sunday school teachers.

Whitney has been coping with the typical problems of being the new kid at school, trying to find her own place in the cliques. What's worse is that the leader of the most popular clique is jealous of her and decides to invite every single girl in the class to a sleepover except Whitney-just to teach her a lesson. Devastated by the humiliation, Whitney doesn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her so deeply without cause. Sobbing, she escapes into the Emerald Bible and finds herself transported to an ancient Israel being terrorized by Goliath.
When young David goes unarmed to face the giant, it's Whitney who gives him a weapon-and a quick lesson in aiming a slingshot! David's bravery in turn gives Whitney the courage and the faith to believe in and stand up for herself, and go back and confront her own bully.

Time-traveling Whitney's latest adventure is triggered, as always, by something in her present. Yielding to pressure, she joins the class in making fun of Pat Chan, or PC as the kids mockingly call the computer whiz who takes diligent notes on his laptop. When a test is called, Whitney finds herself both unprepared and regretful of her actions. Using her grandmother's Emerald Bible, Whitney travels back to ancient Israel just as Noah is finishing up the ark to the jeers and ridicule of his neighbors. When the heavens open, Whitney becomes a stowaway to survive the flood. In the ark she learns about resisting the pressure of others, a lesson she brings with her back to school.
Each novel in The Emerald Bible Collection shows middle graders how the Bible is relevant to their lives. The series presents family values and traditions in an engaging way that leads readers to think, What would I do in this situation? The books are an ideal springboard for both entertaining reading and serious intergenerational discussion.
Written for all Christian denominations, The Emerald Bible Collection is perfect for home, school, and church use. Young readers of the Cooper Kids adventures will be naturally attracted to the series. It's also the perfect resource for parents, grandparents, home-school parents, directors of religious ed, and teachers of parochial school, Sunday school, CCD, and vacation Bible school. For gift buyers who want to purchase something more meaningful than yet another rock-music CD, the series is a much-welcomed alternative.

Sure to pull readers in from the very first page, this book introduces Whitney Bickham as she's trying to handle-all at once-her beloved grandmother's death, the family move from Michigan to Chicago, and a brand new school. Whitney's solution? She'll run away. Before she does, she opens the Emerald Bible for the first time since her grandmother died, hoping to recapture some of the wisdom Nana always found there for her. With the turn of a page, Whitney is thrust into the real-life adventure of Jonah, who's trying to run away from his duties as a preacher. Whitney and her dog Bailey accompany Jonah on his journey-from the storm-tossed ship, to the belly of the whale, to the sinful city of Nineveh. She learns it's impossible to run away but that God will always be with her, even during the most frightening hours.

Illustrated throughout with lively black-and-white drawings, these two exciting, fun-filled books and the Emerald Collection titles to follow:
-present the best-loved Bible stories with immediacy and impact
-show the relevancy of Biblical lessons to today's situations
-encourage family values, tradition, and intergenerational dialogue
-tap the large and profitable middle-grade market
-can be enjoyed by kids 8 to 12 of all Christian denominations
-will have snowballing sales as later readers eagerly seek out the earlier Whitney adventures, as well as clamor for what happens next
Recommend this series to-
o parents and grandparents o parochial school teachers
o home schools o CCD teachers
o directors of religious ed o parishes
o gift buyers o girls aged 8 to 12

Whitney would do anything to get to soccer practice, even copy a friend's homework so she won't have to waste time on boring Math herself. But what was supposed to be a one-time solution becomes a habit. Copying homework leads to copying a quiz—and getting caught. The teacher's demand for a confession on who was cheating from whom puts the girls' friendship on the line. Whitney turns to Nana's Emerald Bible for help and gets sent back in time to King Solomon's court.
The uncanny wisdom of the king and the "wisdom" of the strange foreign girl are tested when two women come to court, both claiming to be mother of the same child. Whitney offers a solution to the king, who in turn tells Whitney what she must do in her own situation to at last make things right with both her friend and her teacher.