Bella Sara

So, now I wish I had a little girl, because I had the opportunity to review Bella Sara, a beautiful, girly online world of horses, magic, fun and trading cards. Yes trading cards so all her friends can play and continue the fun even without a computer!

Bella Sara is a horse-themed collectible card game featuring positive messages for kids 5 to 12. The Bella Sara website carries the story beyond the Bella Sara cards, which both horses and objects that kids can activate and play with online in a safe, imaginative virtual world. They can feed, care for, train, and play with their horses and also play games and solve puzzles on the site.

By letting your little girl participate in the Bella Sara world, you can finally give her the pony she keeps asking for-without the cost! Every card has a beautiful horse for your child to care for-and an id number for entering on the Bella Sara website so then the horse on her card can appear in her online stable! How cool!

And you can be rest assured that your child is participating in a safe online environment; At present, BellaSara.com is a private user experience and interaction with others online is not possible. Very awesome for us protective parents!

Bella Sara keeps all personal information private and takes great care to keep the Bella Sara World a fun and carefree place where your child can grow and learn the many joys of caring for horses, which in turn teaches them about how to care for others, be responsible for their actions, just like with a real friend or pet!

There are also great interactive games on the website, like puzzles, printable coloring pages, and offline card games!

Parents have the discretion to decide their child’s appropriate level of interaction with the Bella Sara World through the easy to us parental-controls section of your child's account to turn off or limit his or her access.Having such powers can also be good for "reality discipline" no chores done, no Bella Sara.


Bella Sara was created by Gitte Odder Brændgaard. Gitte was inspired to create Bella when she worked as a social worker, caring for mentally disabled young people and realized the need for inspirational, meaningful messages and imagination-building game play designed to uplift girls and raise self confidence.

Yes, I need a girl. Or I need to borrow my neighbor's little girl when she reaches the age of 5, because I see this being a super fun computer version of "My Little Ponies" meets the card game "Magic" and that can only mean one thing-hours of fun and bonding!

Secret Keeper Girl

As a mother of young boys, you would think I would not worry about the peer pressure that young girls face today to be skinny, to be sexy, to grow up faster than they should...but I do. Why? Because my boys will someday be dating girls, and I want them to know what is important to find in a friend, girlfriend, wife-and most of all to know that girl is truly a treasure to care for.

First though, our girls need to feel like they are a treasure, and to place some importance on their modesty, appearance, behavior, and ultimately stand up to the peer pressure and glamorization of materialistic items and wild, unchecked behavior young Hollywood displays. A strong self-esteem for our daughters can fight anything, but it is hard to build up against a world that deems morals and modesty as "frumpy".

But where, as a parent, do you start? The Secret Keeper Girl Series. I have had the privilege of reading a book targeted to today's young girls (around ages 8-12), Danika's Totally Terrible Toss, and it tells a fantastic story of a normal, sweet middle schooler facing those very pressures that today's girls face head on. What makes this book great is that the lessons are very subtle, and the story is one that reminds me of the books I was into at that age: Baby Sitters Club, Nancy Drew, Boxcar Kids-this book is written in the same easy flowing, pre-teen fictional fashion, full of all the types of entertainment middle school girls (and me!) love, making this a fun read while teaching VERY important lessons on how to handle peer pressure.

And what I think is super fun about the Secret Keeper Girl Series? There is a fun question answer part in the back set up specifically so moms and daughters can discuss the lessons of the book in a non confrontation, completely open and free way. A FANTASTIC way for a mom and daughter to connect and discuss the trials and tribulations of the world before the world does and a great lesson for moms in how to LISTEN to their daughters when the world isn't.


Dannah Gresh is the author of The Secret Keeper Girl Series, and beyond the series she also wrote a fun book called "8 Great Dates for You and Your Daughter".

And a great first date? Get some toe nail polish out, turn on some of your daughter's music (like the High School Musical soundtrack) and break out: The Secret Keeper Girl Series; you'll both be amazed at what you will learn and build together.

Published through Moody Publishers, you can buy them at Barnes and Noble for $7.99.