The Love That Is True, written by Paul Chilson, is about God’s love.
But, it is more than that. The author starts the book by describing the time before the Creation. He tells readers God “wanted to share The Love That Is True,” so he created the universe and all that is in it. The text continues with the stories of Adam and Eve, Jesus’ birth and his life, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The book ends with the good news that when our life on earth is over, we will share “God’s love: The Love That Is True.”
The text is written in rhyme. Each verse is on a separate two-page layout with a Biblical reference for the text. All but two of them also include a discussion question about the verse. For instance, one verse reads like this:
“The bad angels tell us God’s love isn’t true,
That God couldn’t possibly love me or you.
Rejecting God’s love makes our soft hearts turn hard.
We sin and grow hollow, lonely, and scarred.”
The discussion question is: “Do you ever forget that God loves you?”
There is a music score near the end of the book. Each verse in the book can be sung to the written melody. The author also includes a list of Bible References at the end of the book.
The illustrations by Ruslan Sivachov are bright and vivid and very eye-catching.
What I Like: The book has a great message about God’s love and how it relates to our lives. I also like the comprehensiveness of the text with Bible references and discussion questions for nearly every verse.
What I Dislike: As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of rhyming text as it is difficult to do well. For the most part, the rhyme scheme is okay for the text of this book, but the rhythm is off in several places. I think the book would be stronger written in prose, not verse.
As mentioned, the illustrations are bright and vivid and eye-catching, and I like most of them. However, when angels are depicted, they look more like bendable pieces of gelatin than angels. The illustrations for the text right before the verse where Jesus is born shows modern-day people doing various things, but the illustrations for the next several verses depict people from Biblical times, making the time-sequence a bit awkward. And, the illustration for heaven shows winged horses flying around what looks like a castle, making the whole image seem like a fantasy.
Overall Rating: Good.
Age Appeal: No age group was given but I’d say this is the type of book that would appeal to children in the 6-10 age group.
Publisher Info: 2 Roads Publishing, 2010; ISBN: 9780982979358; Hardcover, $16.99.
Buy now at Amazon.com $16.99!
But, it is more than that. The author starts the book by describing the time before the Creation. He tells readers God “wanted to share The Love That Is True,” so he created the universe and all that is in it. The text continues with the stories of Adam and Eve, Jesus’ birth and his life, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The book ends with the good news that when our life on earth is over, we will share “God’s love: The Love That Is True.”
The text is written in rhyme. Each verse is on a separate two-page layout with a Biblical reference for the text. All but two of them also include a discussion question about the verse. For instance, one verse reads like this:
“The bad angels tell us God’s love isn’t true,
That God couldn’t possibly love me or you.
Rejecting God’s love makes our soft hearts turn hard.
We sin and grow hollow, lonely, and scarred.”
The discussion question is: “Do you ever forget that God loves you?”
There is a music score near the end of the book. Each verse in the book can be sung to the written melody. The author also includes a list of Bible References at the end of the book.
The illustrations by Ruslan Sivachov are bright and vivid and very eye-catching.
What I Like: The book has a great message about God’s love and how it relates to our lives. I also like the comprehensiveness of the text with Bible references and discussion questions for nearly every verse.
What I Dislike: As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of rhyming text as it is difficult to do well. For the most part, the rhyme scheme is okay for the text of this book, but the rhythm is off in several places. I think the book would be stronger written in prose, not verse.
As mentioned, the illustrations are bright and vivid and eye-catching, and I like most of them. However, when angels are depicted, they look more like bendable pieces of gelatin than angels. The illustrations for the text right before the verse where Jesus is born shows modern-day people doing various things, but the illustrations for the next several verses depict people from Biblical times, making the time-sequence a bit awkward. And, the illustration for heaven shows winged horses flying around what looks like a castle, making the whole image seem like a fantasy.
Overall Rating: Good.
Age Appeal: No age group was given but I’d say this is the type of book that would appeal to children in the 6-10 age group.
Publisher Info: 2 Roads Publishing, 2010; ISBN: 9780982979358; Hardcover, $16.99.
Buy now at Amazon.com $16.99!
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