The Jesus Book

Stephen Elkin's newest title, The Jesus Book, is both unique and useful. This handy volume is divided into seven sections: "Who Jesus Is," "What Jesus Did," "What Jesus Taught," "When it Happened," "Where it Happened," "Why it Happened," and "How it Happened." Taken as a whole, the book is a sort of encyclopedia of everything Jesus.

Each section is broken down into simple statements or questions, answered within two pages (which include large, colorful illustrations by Claudine Gevry). For example, in the section on what Jesus taught, one statement is "He taught about repentance. Matthew 4:17."

"Jesus tells us to repent, which means we choose to change ourselves for God...When we repent, we do two very important things: First, we change our hearts. That changes how we think. We come to see that our way of doing things is not like God's way. So then we change what we do. Instead of doing the things that pleas us, we choose to do the things that please God."

This is accompanied by a picture of a man in biblical-era attire (presumably Jesus) hugging a young boy who is on his knees before him.

Throughout the book, topics like "the prophets said Jesus was the promised one," "the angel said Jesus was the Son of God," "He ruled over nature," "He went to the cross," "He rose from the dead," "He brought salvation to the world," "why was Jesus sent?", "why did Jesus die on the cross for me?", and "how do we receive eternal life?" are covered.

In the section on "when it happened," there is a sort of wiggly time line (reminding me just a tad of the Candy Land board) showing when God created the world and various important biblical events until the end times. In the section on "where it happened," there are also two maps included. Other additions include a scripture and topical index, and a CD of Christian songs sung by children.

What I Like: I love the idea of this book. It makes teaching children about Jesus easy as can be.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Very Good.

Age Appeal: 4 - 8.

Publishing Info: Thomas Nelson, 2009; ISBN: 978-1400314638; hardback, $16.99 each

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Special Info: Read our reviews of other books by Stephen Elkins.