The book starts with God telling Moses to go to Pharaoh to tell him to let God's people go. As Pharaoh tells Moses he will, then goes back on his word, Moses shares his thoughts on how the Israelites react. When he finally leads them from Egypt, he talks about the frustrations he deals with leading 600,000 men, plus women, children, and livestock, from Egypt.
When the travelers get to the Promised Land, a group is sent in to learn about the land God gave them. Only Joshua and Caleb are confident they can defeat the giants that live there, so the Israelites decide they'd rather not go into the Promised Land. The band stays in the desert until Moses is 120 years old, and as the story ends, the Israelites are set to move into the Promised Land.
What I Like: I really like the concept of telling biblical stories from a first person perspective. Moses' Memory Book has a unique voice that brings the story of Moses to life.
Most of the cartoon illustrations have captions, enlightening the reader on what they're showing. More often than not, the captions are in Moses' "voice," with an interesting aside to the reader.
There's a glossary in back for new words for young readers. Terms like "abacus", "oy veh", and "Pharaoh" are defined.
What I Dislike: A couple of times, Moses' voice came across a bit too Valley-Girl-ish. While it's fun, it isn't believable as coming from a middle-aged man. (Would Moses really have used the term "Ewwwww!" when God turned his staff into a snake? Somehow I doubt it.)
When describing the giants who lived in the Promised Land, they're called Goliaths. While an apt description, if the writer had been historically accurate, she would have refrained from using this term, since Goliath comes from David's time, and Moses would have no knowledge of Goliath.
Nowhere in the book is there a reference to what part of the Bible the story comes from. There's a brief reference to Exodus after the glossary; however, it's only two verses.
Overall Rating: Very Good.
Age Appeal: 8 - 12
Publisher Info: Harvest House Publishers, 2010; ISBN: 978-0-7369-2543-3; Hardback 32 PGS $14.99
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1 comment:
Sounds like a pretty good book... though I'm having a hard time putting Moses and Valley Girl together in my head. =)
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