An Interview with Catherine Mackenzie

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Catherine Mackenzie about her latest title, How to Be a Bible Princess. I think her responses to my questions speak for themselves; had I not already read a copy of the book, I certainly would have purchased a copy following our interview!

Q1:  How did you come to write How to Be a Bible Princess?

A: For years I’d been thinking about a particular princess in the bible – Jehosheba – because I’d listened to a sermon by Dale Ralph Davis on her which he’d entitled “The woman who saved Christmas.’ I thought the title to his sermon showed creativity and the sermon itself was a real insight into the ancestry of Jesus and God’s plan of redemption. It made me think that there should be a children’s book that covered her story. The more I thought about that the more I thought about the other female characters in the bible that often do not make it into a children’s book. Roughly about the same time my two sister’s between them produced six nieces. One or two of them are definitely ‘girls’ and definitely like pink. One niece for her birthday got a big pink blanket – and someone asked, ‘How many flamingos did you have to kill to make that?’ You get the picture. Therefore princess stories are big hits with these girls. That’s what made me think about how these stories from the bible could be joined together by the common theme of royalty/princesses.

Q2: The princess theme is popular these days, both within Christian circles and without. However, your book is different from the standard "God's princess" fare. In your estimation, what makes How to Be a Bible Princess unique?

A: I think what makes it different is that it keeps referring the child/reader back to Jesus Christ; it isn’t making these women appear to be Disney princesses; it shows the best and the worst of the princesses in the bible; and those that follow God aren’t shown to be perfect – they’re women chosen by God with faults and virtues. There’s application in the book to show young girls how the important thing is not about being a princess – but about being a child of God.

Q3: What do you most desire that the reader will take away from How to Be a Bible Princess?

A: That there is a true royal family, the family of God, and that princesses are all very well but being a child of God, having Christ, the King of Kings as your Lord and Saviour is the one thing needful.

Many thanks to Ms. Mackenzie for taking the time to answer my questions! May God continue to richly bless her work as she seeks to bring glory to Him, and may many young girls be drawn to Christ as a result of her labors!!