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.
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.
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