How Do We Get to Heaven?

Children ask lots of questions about everything imaginable. Sometimes, as parents, we rack our brains about how to explain grown-up concepts to children. Author Cindy Pertzborn makes it easy to talk to children about Heaven and how we can get there. Her book, How Do We Get to Heaven? was written in response to her own five-year-old’s question, “Mom, how do we get to Heaven?”

She writes a story that children will understand and that parents can use as a guide for teaching their children about God and spending eternity in Heaven. She says that getting to Heaven is as easy as A-B-C: “Admit to God that you have sinned; Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for you; and Choose to trust and love God.”

She incorporates a short prayer into the story that children can pray when they are ready to accept Jesus into their heart. She also includes a Commitment Pledge they can sign, as well as a section of Biblical References for verses dealing with sin, salvation and forgiveness.

The illustrations by Stephen Adams are bold, colorful and attention-grabbing.

What I Like: Everything.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: 5-12.

Publisher Info: WestBow Press, 2012; ISBN: 9781449745851; Paperback, $16.95.

Buy now at Amazon.com $15.26! 
 

Special Info: Visit the author’s website.

Tadeo Turtle

Psalm 139: 13-14 tells us how God knit us together, and is quoted at the beginning of Tadeo Turtle, written and illustrated by Janis Cox. Written in rhyming verse, a once contented turtle named Tadeo becomes envious of the way a fellow creature (Sammy Squirrel) is able to move. Hampered by his shell, Tadeo mourns the fact that he can’t climb, run, and jump.

Then one day, Tadeo dreams that he has no shell to hold him back, and he indulges in some classic squirrel maneuvers. He’s happy until a cat comes along and chases him…just as a cat would chase a squirrel. It is only then that he wishes to have his shell back.

When Tadeo wakes up, he acknowledges that he is a turtle, and, as such, God had made him perfectly.

The book ends with four turtle craft ideas and a page devoted to turtle research ideas. The overall structure of the book is no more than four lines of text per page paired with watercolor pictures of various sizes.

What I Like: I like how the author started the book with a Bible verse. Plus, the theme of the book is good: God perfectly and wonderfully made you. I also like the book extensions. Although the crafts aren’t particularly original, they are fun, and the inclusion of them will likely inspire budding artists to create their own turtle. Perhaps they might even use their project to retell the story.

What I Dislike: This isn’t a dislike, but a neutral statement. The illustrations are okay—not my favorite style for a book geared toward younger readers, but still realistic and well done. But to me, many just don’t hold enough detail or variety to keep the attention of a younger audience.

This is also not a dislike, but a note. The research aspect of the book might be too difficult for the target audience. I checked out all the websites listed. One looks to be at about a first or second grade reading level. The text of the other two sites is at about a third or fourth grade level. However, with the guidance of an adult, younger children can enjoy these resources too.
My one true dislike is the price. $12.99 is pricey for a 28 page paperback.

Overall Rating: Good

Age Appeal: No age is listed, but the simplicity of the tale makes it well suited for a Preschool or perhaps Kindergarten audience.

Publisher Info: Word Alive Press, 2012; ISBN: 978-1770696952; Paperback, 28 pgs., $12.99

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $9.99
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $12.99
OR Buy the Kindle version for $6.49.

"It's a Jungle Out There" Book One of the Rani Adventures

Ron (Rani) Snell's book, "It's a Jungle Out There," is a captivating look at life in the Amazon Rainforest, from the perspective of an eight-year-old boy. The son of missionary parents, Rani shares countless, breath-taking adventures. It is a miracle he, his brother Teri, and his two sisters survived many of the adventures. Snell's stories are packed with detail and humor, with a little thanksgiving thrown in.

Rani's adventures include navigating swollen river rapids by canoe, raft and fallen tree, navigating 16,000 foot mountain passes via Chevy and canvas-covered "Aeronca" airplanes, and swimming with alligators, piranhas,and sting rays. Life at home wasn't much calmer. Rani's family battled rats, giant ants and vampire bats at home, not to mention the wild ocelot, monkeys, and birds they tried to keep as pets.

A sample of Snell's writing speaks for itself.

 Isulas are big ants. Well, "big ants" doesn't exactly do them justice--they're kind of like one-and-quarter inch monster ants, the way they sting and all. We've seen Machiguenga men writhing on the floor after getting stung. Machiguenga men don't writhe just to impress their girlfriends.
I was the only one of us kids to get an isula bite, so I was kind of special, even though my mom already had gotten stung once when she sat down in the outhouse. Since she might read this book, I better not say where she got stung, but you can assume it wasn't on the top of her head. 

 Snell gives us an eye-opening look at living in a family of Bible translators working with the Machiguenga tribe. In between adventures, Snell's parents learned the language, translated the Bible,  began schools for children in various areas, and grew to love these gentle people. At the end of the book, Snell encourages readers to check out Wycliffe Bible Translators.

What I Like:  When I say captivating, I truly mean captivating.  I read a short section aloud to my family last night, as we were driving home. They couldn't help laughing. Better yet, at 6:30 this morning, my nine-and-a-half year-old son woke me up to ask if he could borrow the book. 6:30 is much earlier than he usually is up on a school morning, and I had to threaten him to get him to put it down at 8:10! I am sure he will be running over to the neighbor's to borrow books two and three this afternoon.

Snell's faith is evident in his compassion for the people, and in the way he writes about their beliefs and struggles with accepting the Christian faith.

The book would also work perfectly for teaching how to write a personal narrative.
 
What I Dislike:  There were random typos throughout.  Although I noticed them, I can honestly say I enjoyed the book so much, I didn't really care the typos were there.

Overall Rating:  Excellent

Age Appeal: 8 and up (but see Special Note)

Publisher Info: Hannibal Books, 2006; ISBN: 0-929292-83-9; Paperback, 165 pages, $7.95

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $13.46
 
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $7.45. 

Special Note:  Snell writes in a very matter-of-fact manner about death due to infant mortality, disease epidemics and accidents. He also does write about infanticide and people drinking poison in suicide attempts or to try to induce abortion. Snell relates one second-hand story about villagers burying a newborn alive and stomping on the grave because its mother died in childbirth. These sections would be easy to skip, if you were reading the book aloud.

Book Two is called Life is a Jungle! and Book Three is called Jungle Calls.

Bennie's Forever Gift

In Bennie’s Forever Gift, written by Lynne Farrell, Bennie loves to go for rides with his Grandpa Eldee. Bennie looks up to his Grandpa because Grandpa always makes him feel special and loved.

For his eighth birthday, Grandpa Eldee gives Bennie a special gift, a bright red horn for his bike. Of all the presents he got, it is his favorite. He puts it on his bike and he and Grandpa go for a ride.

Then Grandpa tells Bennie about the Great One and his Forever Gift. He explains that the Great One created each of us differently and gave us special gifts. Grandpa said the Great One’s best gift of all is the Forever Gift. The Forever Gift is very special as the Great One only gives it to those who ask for it. If you accept the Forever Gift, you will be forever friends with the Great One and go to live with him when you leave this world.

The illustrations by Kathy Dache are colorful and expressive and the entire book’s layout works well with the text.

What I Like: I like the story’s message, a story about the gift of God’s eternal grace and the promise that we will be with Him when we die.

What I Dislike: I didn’t mention this previously, but just so you know, Bennie is a tricycle and Grandpa Eldee is an old-fashioned bicycle. I was a bit thrown off by the cover illustration as it is a picture of a tricycle with lots of balloons. With the title, Bennie’s Forever Gift, I expected the tricycle to be a gift, not be one of the main characters. I don’t necessarily dislike it, I just wonder why the author chose a bicycle and a tricycle as characters. Also, God is referred to as the Great One, instead of simply as God or our Heavenly Creator.

Overall Rating: Very good.

Age Appeal: 6-12.

Publisher Info: WestBow Press, 2012; ISBN: 9781449761332; Paperback, $15.95.

Buy now at Christian Book $14.36!

Or buy at Amazon.com $11.82.

 

New Testament Tales: The Unauthorized Version

Author Bob Hartman uses original New Testament stories as a springboard to retell the same tale from a totally new, outlandish perspective. In so doing, he takes a flying leap into a completely different arena altogether. Only a small thread of the Scriptural passage ties it to Hartman’s off-the-wall version of the story.

Bob Hartman’s New Testament Tales: The Unauthorized Version starts with an introduction, where Hartman explains that he “tried to tell the stories in a way that would be true to the original, but also in a way that would bring out the humor in them.” How successful you view this attempt will depend on your reaction to his slightly irreverent style.

Hartman gives us the Landlord’s version of Jesus’ birth, which includes a lively conversation between an innkeeper and his outraged wife. A child who keeps eating sheep poo and sticking things up her nose interrupts their animated discussion.

Next we have a backstage view of Jesus changing water into wine. Two cousins—one a major troublemaker and a liar—end up destroying all the wine, but Jesus saves the day.

We then visit a nasty fisherman who has a son bent on annoying him. The son hides a cat on the boat, the duo catches no fish, and things seem bleak. When the father discovers the cat, he shouts some choice words and then threatens to drown it, but then the disciples give him all their fish. The cat is forgotten, and the greedy fisherman goes off to survey his profits.

The remaining stories follow a similar pattern: The original tale is on the outskirts, only referenced to explain what’s going on with the characters telling their version of events. Jesus or a disciple might appear, but only briefly.

For a taste of the remaining chapters, we see the boy who shared his loaves of bread and fish. He is shown not to be generous, but trying to get rid of a lunch he didn’t want. Then there is a self-titled “The Boring Version “ of Jesus blessing the children, which includes lots of complaining, waiting in line, and a youngster who only seems to know the word “poo”…and who actually does poo at the end of the tale. We learn about a merchant’s young helper (a liar and thief) who witnesses the miracle with Jairus’ daughter. (That chapter ends with the merchant boy shrugging off the miracle and plotting another theft). And there are more likeminded tales.

What I Like: The Table of Contents provides the reader with a Scripture reference for the stories, so that after reading the “unauthorized” version, people can read the real story from the Bible. In keeping with the rather tongue-in-cheek manner of the book, the black-and-white illustrations are exaggerated and cartoonish. And, I have to admit, there are a few funny lines.

What I Dislike: I don’t know exactly how to react to a book like this. I enjoy humor, and it’s meant to be funny…but to me the stories verge on the edge of impertinence. Because of that, I don’t believe it’s a book for everyone; readers would be wise to preview the book before making a purchase.

Overall Rating: Please forgive me, but I can't settle on a rating for this. The stories are well written, but not necessarily the type I'd personally enjoy, plus they might seem offensive to some readers. On the other hand, a reader might just find the book hilarious. So...I'm just going to politely bow out of rating this book.

Age Appeal: Ages 7 and up

Publisher Info: Lion UK, 2012; ISBN: 978-0745962849; Paperback, 96 pgs., $8.99

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $7.19
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $8.99
OR Buy the Kindle version for $7.19

Humble Heart: A Book of Virtues

Amy Meyer Allen's colorful, simple Humble Heart is a book of virtues for very young children. It covers the topics of humbleness, love, thoughtfulness, faithfulness, mercy, encouragement, comfort, courage, and joy, all in short, easy chapters.

Each chapter begins with the name of a virtue, and an easy-to-understand definition. For example: "Humility: having a gentle and mild spirit; not being proud." The next page tells the name of the chapter: "Humble Honeybee Learns about Humility." Then a short, simple story follows. For example, in the chapter on humbleness, we learn that Humble Honeybee lives in a beehive on the farm of Babo Bear. Her job is to collect nectar - and she works hard. But she never wants anyone to help her. In fact, one day she decides life would be easier if she just made the honey all by herself. But in this attempt, her wings get stuck together and she has no choice but to call for help. At last, Babo rescues her. "It's better to work together," he says. Humble learns not to be so proud; she can ask for help - and give it.

Allen ends each story with a question. (For example, "Have you ever been too proud to ask for help?") Then she offers an applicable Bible verse.
 
What I Like: Both my children (4 and 7) were immediately attracted to this book's bright, friendly illustrations. The length of each story is quite short, so there's little chance to get wiggly. My children could mostly relate to the problems of each character, and my youngest seemed to enjoy learning some new words (like "humble" and "mercy"). This is a book we'll read again and again.

What I Dislike: Occasionally a chapter is so short, I feel the author rushed - but my kids didn't seem to notice.

Overall Rating: Good.

Age Appeal: toddler to preschool

Publishing Info: Tyndale; 2013; ISBN: 978-1414380698; hardback, 192 pgs. total, $14.99

Buy Now at Amazon for $10.79
Or buy at ChristianBook.com for $10.49

Bob Hartman's Old Testament Tales: The Unauthorized Version

Bob Hartman’s Old Testament Tales: The Unauthorized Version, written and illustrated by Bob Hartman, is unlike any other Bible-story book I’ve ever read. That’s a good thing as it made me think about the Bible stories from a whole new perspective.

The author relates nine Bible stories, most of them well-known, but not from the usual point-of-view. For instance, in the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, the story is told from the point-of-view of one of the lions. And in the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, the story is told by one of the soldiers who marched around the walls of the city.

The pencil-sketched illustrations are cartoon-like and very complimentary to the text. The author includes a Table of Contents listing each story title along with its biblical text reference.

What I Like: These stories are short and are told with a wonderful sense of humor. I also liked reading them because they were written from a completely different and unexpected view point. It added a whole new dimension to the story. I think this would be a great book to use for discussing these Bible stories.

What I Dislike: This is not really a “dislike,” it’s more like a heads-up. The author included a couple of lesser-known Biblical stories: Balaam’s Donkey and Elijah’s Widow. Readers may not be familiar with these, but there are Biblical references included so they can look them up and compare the Bible version to the author’s.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: 8-12.

Publisher Info: A Lion’s Children’s Book, 2012; ISBN: 9780745962832; Paperback, 95 pages, $8.99.

Buy now at ChristianBook $7.19!

Or buy at Amazon.com $8.99.

Buy the Kindle edition for $7.19.

 

Special Info: The book was published in England so the text reflects the British way of spelling and speaking. For instance, “humor” is spelled “humour” and “Mom” is known as “Mum.”

Read our reviews of other books by Bob Hartman.

Butterflies, Ladybugs, and Squirrels

Exploring God's creation is a common activity for Bonnie, the narrator of Butterflies, Ladybugs, and Squirrels, written and illustrated by Amy Webb. Today, Bonnie wants to tell you about three of favorite creatures found in her backyard.

Filled with trivia and fun crafts, Butterflies, Ladybugs, and Squirrels is a handy little book for your budding naturalist and outdoor enthusiast. They will be fascinated by the things they didn't know about these common creatures, like how to tell a moth and a butterfly apart. (Even I was surprised by the things I'd forgotten!)

What I Like: This is a really cute book on all levels. The writing is great, the illustrations simply amazing, and the facts wonderful. I love how Bonnie ties everything back to honoring God, thanking Him for His creation. At the end, she journals to God, and I found that to be one of the most honest and poignant parts of the book--and a great lesson on prayer, too!

What I Dislike: My only problem with the book is a formatting gripe. I can understand having a book with butterflies and ladybugs together as the subject matter (they're insects, which makes sense), but squirrels too? Even though they're all common backyard creatures, it seems to me that doing two books--one on mammals/rodents and another on insects would have been a better idea. However, that's just me, and I wouldn't let that detract from the excellent quality of this book.

Overall Rating: Very good, only because I would have rather seen this as two books as mentioned above. Otherwise, this would have received the top rating of excellent.

Age Appeal: 5 - 10

Publisher Info: Creation Today, 2012; ISBN: 978-1-58468-511-1; Hardback, 32 pgs., $9.95

Buy it at Amazon.com for $10.73.

Ravens' Mission (Animals of the Bible)

Ravens’ Mission is book number 2 in Marilyn Schuler’s Animals of the Bible series. This is the story from I Kings 17 about Elijah the prophet during a drought. Elijah had prayed for this drought as a dramatic demonstration of power over Baal, the pagan deity worshipped by the king. During this dry spell there was a shortage of food and drink, but Elijah received God’s provision in a miraculous way: On a daily basis, ravens carried food to Elijah.

However, Schuler does not provide the reader with this background, nor does she mention that the prophet in her story is Elijah. Instead, her story starts with a conversation between two raven brothers (Rob and Ray) and their father. The father raven, demonstrating great respect and faith in what he calls “Our Creator”, tells his sons that they have a mission to carry bread and meat to the prophet in the ravine. He sets up a schedule to deliver two meals a day, splitting the duty between the sons. Then dad leaves.

The raven boys are amazed that the meat and bread appear, just as their father had said. At this point, however, the older raven named Ray decides that he is not going to help on the mission and leaves Rob to do all the work. While Rob faithfully fulfills his task, he makes friends with the prophet.

Meanwhile, Ray starts to feel guilty for shirking his mission. He eventually returns to Rob and offers to help. From then on, the two brothers work together to deliver food.

Finally the food stops appearing, and the boys report to their father. He tells them, “Mission accomplished. Our Creator is pleased when we obey him.”

The story ends by citing the passage of Scripture where this story is found. Samantha Kickingbird created its delightful, realistic-looking illustrations.

What I Like: I appreciate the story being told from the raven’s point of view, and the inclusion of the Scripture passage so readers can fill in some of the gaps. Also, the illustrations are interesting and well drawn. While the ravens show a bit of human qualities in the way they talk to each other and in their body stances, they still look the way a raven outside your window might look. The book also comes with an audio book download, which is an added bonus!

What I Dislike: Although I liked the pictures, there is not much of a variety in color, which gives the book almost a cold, drab feel to it. Also, parts of the story are not well developed. We don’t have a clear idea why Ray would abandon his task, nor why he would start to feel guilty and return. Also, the reader is never told why there is a drought, why the prophet is hiding in the ravine, or why the drought ends. However, reading the Scripture passage would help clarify these missing parts of the story. Finally, the book is a little expensive for a paperback.

Overall Rating: Very Good

Age Appeal: No age group is cited, but I think it would work well for the K-1 crowd.

Publisher Info: Tate Publishing, 2012; ISBN: 978-1621475682; Paperback, 28 pgs., $9.99

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $8.19
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $9.99
OR Buy the Kindle version for $6.39.