Enoch Walked With God

Enoch. No, that's not a punch line to a knock-knock joke... it's the name of a man who lived before the flood and Noah's ark. He was one of the few men in the Bible who did not see death. Instead, he was taken directly to heaven by God.

The book Enoch Walked With God by Larry Hunt speculates on the life of this man and the manner in which his devotion to God manifested itself.  The book begins by quoting the three lines of Scripture that mention Enoch. Then, though not described in the Bible, the book paints a picture of a gentle, peaceful Enoch who played with children, showed kindness, planted seeds and harvested a field for a widow, and spoke with wisdom.

 The book is written in rhyme and capped off with the title words as a refrain. The meter is even and well constructed, giving it a gentle, sing-song feel. The text is large-sized with only a few lines per page. Illustrations are done in a two page spread. These are quite simple in presentation, and slightly cartoonish in look for some of the characters. Though they hold few details, the colors are bright.

What I Like: The rhyme in this book works, which is refreshing. The repeated refrain will appeal to younger readers, who can anticipate (and recite!) the words. And, though plain, the illustrations work fairly well to complement the text.

What I Dislike: As I mentioned, much of what is described as Enoch's life in this book is speculative. However, because the book holds no historical background information or author explanation for how Enoch's actions were discerned, it reads as fact. In other words, one could easily believe that playing with children, plowing widow's fields, and so on came directly from Scripture... and they don't. So, while I liked the idea of the story and appreciated the construction of the poetic elements, I wish that the speculative aspect would have been made clear.

Overall Rating: Good. However, had the author clarified where his ideas came from, I probably would have ranked it as very good. In other words, if you are a parent willing to take a moment prior to reading the book to explain to your child how you think the author likely developed his ideas, I think it's worth looking at.

Age Appeal: None is given, but I recommend younger ages, likely the preschool- kindergarten crowd.

Publisher Info: Eastern Gate Press, 2014; ISBN: 978-0615850559; Paperback and Kindle, 38 pgs., $9.00

This book is not available at Christianbook.com.
Buy the paperback at Amazon.com for $10.79  or the Kindle version for $2.99.