Creation Song

Creation Song is the debut children's book by Anna Scott-Brown. This book depicts God's act of creation as more than just spoken words, but rather a dance and a song poured forth from love.
At the beginning of the story, God is all alone. He imagines a world filled with friendship and laughter, love and beautiful creatures. God starts to sing. His song picks up the corners of nothing and folds it into a ball. God breathes on it sending the sphere to its location within the universe. Then God begins to dance. His steps result in pricks of light which join together to make the sun. The sun runs to the waters, created by God's tears of joy, and sees reflected in it the moon. The tears of God water the earth. When the earth laughs, plants and colors fill its surface. The laughter and song continue until all the earth is filled with beautiful creatures. When God begins to sing again, man and woman are the result. When creation is done...
"... at the centre was God with the two beings he had made in his own likeness. They combined within themselves all the music of his soul and all the love of his heart and all the joy of creation. All creation danced with him."
The stylistic illustrations by Elena Gomez fill the pages with color. They're imaginative and bold. The faces of Adam and Eve are quite realistic.
What I Like: It's beautiful! Poetic in its description, it reminds me of African fables. While it's not biblically accurate, it does encourage kids to imagine the wonder of creation. It takes them to a new level of understand how nothing became everything because of God's design and love. The illustrations are wonderful! My kids really like the pictures of the animals.
What I Dislike: It's not biblically accurate. Also, it took a few readings before my kids liked this book. They were bored by the beginning because the pictures show what the story describes: nothing.
Overall Rating: Very Good. (If I were not judging it as a "Christian" book, I would definitely give it an Excellent rating. Because this site is dedicated to teaching our children biblical truths through literature, the artistic liberties taken require me to rate it lower.)
Age Appeal: 4-8
Publisher Info: Lion Hudson, 2007; ISBN: 0745960499; Hardback; $12.95
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Special Info: This book is also available in paperback from Amazon.com for $11.87.

Step Into the Bible: 100 Bible Stories for Family Devotions

Not long ago, we posted a feature about our favorite "first" children's Bibles. But even if your children have Bibles of their own, I encourage you to have Ruth Graham's Step Into the Bible on hand, too.

Designed specifically for family devotionals, but equally as good as a one-parent-with-one-child book, this beautiful volume was penned by Billy Graham's daughter. In the introduction, Ruth Graham explains how her parents used a 19th century book titled Steps for Little Feet Along Gospel Paths (by Charles Foster) for family devotions while she was growing up. But when Ruth was ready to use it with her own children, she felt it really needed updating. She suggested her mother as the perfect person to do this, but Ruth Bell Graham thought her daughter ought to do it. So the younger Ruth took up the task, and her revised version, called First Steps in the Bible was published in 1980. The edition I have before me today is updated even further, removing what the author herself called "weak stories."

Each two page spread in Step Into the Bible features glorious color photographs related to the devotional at hand. There are lots of animals and people to interest young children, and real-life biblical scenes (like Mt. Ararat and the Jordon River) to interest older kids. On one side of the page is a short devotional - most no longer than a few paragraphs. On the opposite side of the page are kid-friendly questions to ask your child about the reading, and a memory verse.

The devotionals themselves do use some contemporary anecdotes, but they are largely simple, straight-forward retellings of Bible stories and incidents. The author does not dumb things down for the children; for example, she includes a story about leprosy. But as she says in the periodic notes she includes just for parents, such things need not confuse or frighten children if told in the right light.

What I Like: The author's writing is wonderfully down to earth; the questions for children are simple and yet sometimes profound; and the brilliant photographs are like gourmet icing on a delicious cake. During family devotions, this book will speak to parents, too.

What I Dislike: The same memory verse is used for every five devotions. I would rather see a new memory verse for every seven devotions (so there'd be one verse per week)...but this is a very personal critique, and not all parents will feel the same way.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: There is no publisher recommendation, but I'd say 2 - 12.

Publishing Info: Zonderkidz, 2007; ISBN: 0310714109; soft back, $14.99

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David and Goliath: A Story About Courage

David and Goliath: A Story About Courage offers several learning approaches all in one package. Targeted for early readers, this die-cut boardbook uses simple language to tell the famous Old Testament story.

The included DVD enhances the learning experience through games, activities, music and videos. These teach word recognition, vocabulary, reading comprehension, decision-making skills, proper pronunciation and Scripture memorization.

The book and DVD are both illustrated with the bold outline drawings and plenty of vivid colors. The characters are cartoon-like, but not too cutesy.

What I Like:The story is biblically accurate. The illustrations are great! I love the bold style and inviting colors. Having two preschoolers, I greatly appreciate the publisher's seamless ability to combine Scripture with early reading skills. My kids love the music videos.

What I Dislike: The book claims to have 100+ interactive activities. This is a bit of a stretch. In reality, there are about 9 different activities with various modes or levels within them. All of them are great, but the advertisement of over 100 things you can do seems misleading.

Overall Rating: Very Good.

Age Appeal: 3-8

Publisher Info: Ideals Children's Books, 2006; ISBN: 0824966597; Boardbook; $14.95

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Special Info: See our review of Adam and Eve: A Story About Making Right Choices, another book in the I Can Read the Bible! series.

Who's Who and Where's Where In The Bible for Kids

Who's Who and Where's Where in the Bible for Kids is a good place to get your pre-teens learning over one hundred facts about people and places in the Bible. It is written by Stephen M. Miller with cartoon art by Corey Godbey. Just under the name of the person or place being discussed, you will find a pronunciation key, what the word means, and where to find it in the Bible. To add a little interesting side note, there are cartoon characters placed on most every page. There are maps with notes about important cities and beautifully detailed photos and artwork of scenes from the Bible. You will find all sorts of little facts like: What it was like shopping in Jerusalem, where the holy places are in Jerusalem, when there was killer hail, and much, much more.

What I Like: Everything! My children grow tired of hearing the same Bible stories over and over again. They both jumped on this book and are still soaking up all of the information about the "new" people and places mentioned in the Bible.

What I Dislike: This book is a whopping 160 pages, yet we still wanted more!

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: Recommended ages 8 - 12

Publishing Info: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 2006; ISBN:1597892270; Paperback.

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Special Info: Get the adult illustrated version here. Get the illustrated, adult Pocket Edition here.