Christian Book Notes

Coy, Col. Jimmie Dean. Matthew A to Z +2. Mobile: Evergreen Press, 2008. 56 pp. $10.99. Purchase at Amazon.

Coy, Col. Jimmie Dean and Patricia Coy Ragsdell.  The ABC’s of Matthew for Kids. Mobile: Evergreen Press, 2009.  40 pp.  $14.99.  Purchase at Amazon.

Introduction

Col. Coy may be better known for his ministry and book series of the same name–A Gathering of Eagles.  These two books offer a simple and fun way to actually learn the theme of each chapter of the gospel of Matthew using the alphabet.

Review

The creativity in using the alphabet to alliterate the entire gospel of Matthew is impressive.  The +2 is because there are 28 chapters and only 26 letters in the alphabet.  For each letter, the author uses as many words beginning with that particular letter.  For example, the letter A is for ancestry.  An example sentence from that chapter would be, “ANCESTRY from ABRAHAM to Jesus. The ANGEL APPEARED saying, “Don’t be AFRAID AND then ANNOUNCED His ARRIVAL saying, “His name will be Immanuel which means, God with us” (Mt. 1:23). For more examples and the entire alphabet, you can check out the page on his website dedicated to these books.  The children’s book uses the same alliteration technique but uses more pictures than words to describe the chapter.

Recommendation

These two books are great resources for families.  They are fun to “study” during family devotions and worship.  They definitely are an aid in “memorizing” the Gospel of Matthew.  I  recommend both of these books to families and churches.  If you are a children’s minister, the children’s edition gives you 28 weeks worth of lessons!  If you are a family minister, you will find that both parents and children will enjoy learning about the Gospel of Matthew with these books.

NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009. 624 pp. $29.99. Purchase at Amazon.

Introduction

I have reviewed children’s story Bibles in the past (The Children’s Story Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible) and have found that in recent years, there have been many excellent children’s story Bibles. In 2008, my family alternated between Sally Lloyd-Jones’ The Jesus Storybook Bible and David Helm’s The Big Picture Story Bible. My family is currently working through Catherine Vos’ The Children’s Story Bible and after a year, we are just now getting to the New Testament. Granted, we have not been able to read every night, but it is safe to say that we have read at least five nights a week in 2009. My wife and I have been trying to figure out what our next step ought to be once we finish The Children’s Story Bible. Enter Thomas Nelson’s NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible (NKJV GSB).

Review

Unlike other children’s story Bibles (even the aforementioned Bibles), the NKJV GSB is nothing but actual Scripture. Obviously, it uses the New King James Version as its text. The difference between an “adult” Bible (I use “adult” simply to differentiate between a child’s version and an actual Holy Bible) and this particular children’s Bible is the use of book chapters and titles rather than the current book, chapter, verse system found in all of our Bibles today.

For example, Exodus 15:22-17:7 is titled God Provides for His People in the Wilderness. Joshua being named to lead the Israelites is covered in the chapter Moses’ Successor Named. The New Testament begins with Jesus Before Time (John 1:1-18) and ends with Final Victory (Rev. 22).

The editors brought these stories together in a chronological fashion which is different from a canonical order (the order in which the books and stories appear in your Bible). If there is any criticism to be found it is that there is not much from the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament epistles. However, there is enough to introduce both genres of literature found in the Bible.

Recommendation

I am truly excited about NKJV GSB. While you cannot go wrong with the other children’s story Bibles I have mentioned in this article, the NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible is perhaps the peak of all children’s Bibles. I would recommend starting your children in infancy by reading to them from The Big Picture Story Bible and/or The Jesus Storybook Bible and then advance to The Children’s Story Bible when they are about four or five years old. Once they get to where they are starting to read, I would have them begin reading the NKJV GSB aloud. With these four children’s Bibles, there is truly no excuse for the next generation of children in our churches to be biblically illiterate.  Complete with a presentation page and a ribbon for a place marker, this particular edition of a story Bible makes an excellent transition from Bible stories to Bible doctrine and will certainly help to cultivate a love for God’s Word that has been missing in many homes for some time.

Bradley, Miriam Jones.  The Double Cousins and the Mystery of the Missing Watch.  Enumclaw:  WinePress Publishing, 2009.  $11.95.  Purchase at Amazon for $10.16 or less.

Introduction

Miriam Jones Bradley based this story loosely on experiences she and her siblings and cousins had as children. The mystery does come from a true-life event–her great-great-grandpa Jones left home to find work and never returned. She also informs the reader that, “when siblings marry siblings, their children are double cousins-” a fact I personally had never heard of until reading this book. She blogs at doublecousins.wordpress.com.  This is the first book in the series (there are at least four more planned).

Review

The Double Cousins takes place in modern day Nebraska where Max and Carly and Dorie, Chad and Molly spend a summer at their grandparents’ house. Grandpa decides to give the children a mystery to solve while they are on the farm. His grandpa’s twin brother, Zachary, left home at eighteen and was never heard from again. The only clue grandpa has is his grandpa’s pocket watch that matched Zachary’s.

Added to the fun of the mystery, Slim, a homeless man, comes to live on the ranch to give a grandpa during hay season. The children are bound and determined to solve this mystery but have no idea where it will take them. They do learn along the way that even the intrigue of a mystery does not allow them to have a bad attitude or intrude on others. Ultimately, they discover the answers to the mystery and learn valuable lessons about faith and trust and evangelism along the way.

Recommendation

The Double Cousins is a nice, clean read. It is easy to find yourself on the farm with cousins visiting your grandparents. While the mystery is what makes the story move along, there is always the underlying reality of living a life of holiness as a believer in Jesus Christ. On page 83, there is a gospel presentation through conversation and then a real-life depiction of how one may respond to that.

I would recommend this book to any child looking for a good mystery to solve or to any family looking for a good book to read together in the evenings.  You can read more about the book at its website.

Chapman, Jim. Illustrated by Jay Montgomery. The Night After Christmas. Enumclaw: WinePress Publishing, 2009. 21 pp. $19.95. Purchase at Amazon.

Review

The Night Before Christmas is a much loved poem written by Clement Clarke Moore that has captured the hearts of untold millions every Christmas. But, how do we feel about Christmas when all of the festivities go away? That is what the poem The Night After Christmas deals with. I am not going to give away the poem and its meaning, but I will quote from the preface to give you an idea.

The author of The Night After Christmas, Jim Chapman explains that this poem was inspired by Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary. He quotes Jim Elliot from a letter to his wife, Elisabeth, “In some post-holiday correspondence to his wife Elisabeth one year, he summed up his feelings with the following remark: ‘Seems to me we would have a better attitude toward the whole thing if someone would write a realistic poem on the ‘Night After Christmas’ to counterbalance the magical effects of the imaginative “Night Before.””

Jim Chapman does just that. Look closely at the cover of the book. It alone will intrigue you. Note the names of the reindeer: Charge It, Pay Later, Interest Included, Plastic Credit. Note also the trail of receipts blowing behind Santa’s sled.

From the inside flap of the dust jacket we read:

Does Christmas seem like a stressful, unsatisfying ritual? Why do we go through this annual exercise of decorating, shopping, wrapping, and over-spending— only to vow we’re going to do it differently next year? Was Christmas always this way? Or did our culture make it into something it wasn’t meant to be?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, you may well need this book. Christmas does, indeed, offer something more. Obscured beneath the tree, hidden inside the gift wrap, buried under plastic debt lies an enduring enigma that beckons us to reconsider. Somewhere in all the clutter can be found the key to a merry Christmas. For those who take a second look, there awaits a gift that can make every day a holiday.

I highly recommend that this Christmas, you pick up a copy of The Night After Christmas so that you may be able to counterbalance the days and weeks leading up to the day of Christmas.

Pickett, Cheryl. Creation Inspirations. Washington Township: Brighter Day Publishing, 2009. 154 pp. $12.99. Purchase at Amazon at a discounted price.

Introduction

Cheryl Pickett has published more than 150 newspaper articles in addition to writing for business and promotion.  she published her first book, Publishing Possibilities in January 2009.  Later the same year she published Creation Inspirations.  She feels that her life’s work is now to point children to the glory of God through His creation.  You can read more about Cheryl and check out her blog/book website at CreationInspirations.com.

Review

I must confess that I received this book a couple months ago and my wife immediately confiscated it and never returned it!  To be honest, I completely forgot the book until we went to our local zoo.  I asked my wife where the book was and she told me that it was in our homeschooling cabinet.  Sure enough, it was in the science section!  So, I took it back!

Cheryl includes twenty-five different animals in this edition of Creation Inspirations ranging from an aardvark to a wood duck.  Each “bio” on the animal consists of four scientific sections:

• What do they look like?
• Where do they live?
• What do they eat?
• More interesting stuff–trivial fun facts about each animal

and two inspiration sections:

• A new view–a devotional-like segment that brings the creature back to the Creator.
• A Bible verse–can be used for meditation or memorization.

You can see the kangaroo sample here.  Sprinkled throughout the book are fun little activities that reinforce the learning about the animals.

Recommendation

Not only is this book a must own for homeschooling families, it will help to bring God back into our local zoo’s.  (Apparently, people don’t like when you wear a “Darwin Lied –Genesis 1:1″ t-shirt to the zoo.  You should see the looks I get!)  Now that it is winter, I cannot wait to get back to the zoo and use this book with my children to learn about God and the animals without trying to sound as though you are skirting the issues and driving a square peg through a round hole.

Creation Inspirations can help any child share about the Creator when writing reports for school.  Be warned though, this book is not just for children.  Parents will get a kick out of many of the “more interesting stuff” information.  I look forward to more volumes in the series and once you check it out you will, too!

McArt, Mick.  Tales of Wordishure: A Book of Christian Bedtime Stories.  Denver:  Outskirts Press, Inc.  97 pp.  $10.95.  Purchase at a discounted price at Amazon.

Review

Wordishure is a fantasy land where you will meet dragons who enjoy eating hats, mice that collect socks and dress like lions and boys and girls who enjoy having fun and learning about Jesus Christ.

This little book of seven bedtime stories for children is an adventure in imagination and will leave your children wanting to learn more about the land of Wordishure.  Sprinkled generously throughout each story is a lesson to be learned rooted in Scripture.  From the need of and for forgiveness to repentance to the necessity of sharing the gospel with all people, your children will enjoy learning about the Tree Scouts and grabapples.  They will get a toot out of Revelly the squirrel and fall in love with Colby, Jack, and Pepper–the three church mice. When it is all said and done, by the time the last story comes around, your children will realize that as brothers and sisters in Christ, everyone can come together for one cause–the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tales of Wordishure will be a joy to read as a family.  Throughout the stories, you will be able to share with your children biblical truths based on city names and the interaction of the characters.  I would recommend this book for preschool aged children in your nursery at church or for your children at home.  Personally, I enjoyed getting to know the children and animals in Wordishure and I am sure you would as well.  I look forward to more books in this series.

You can become a fan of Tales of Wordishure on Facebook or you can learn more about the land of Wordishure at the website.

Cantrell, Julie. God is with Me through the Day and God is with Me through the Night. Grand Rapids: Zonderkidz, 2009. 32 pp. $9.99. Purchase God is with Me through the DayGod is with Me through the Night or at Amazon for a discounted price.

Review

Julie Cantrell is a freelance writer who writes about health, science, faith, education, family, child development or lifestyle. You can read some of what she has written and where she will be speaking at through her personal website, JulieCantrell.com. She also has a blog she updates regularly called Julie’s Journal and is worth checking out.

These two particular picture books are designed for children ages four to seven. With cute, full-color pictures of various kinds of animals, your child will love reading and viewing these books over and over again. In doing so, they will be introduced to the biblical attribute of God’s omnipresence–God is every where at every time.

As I watch my five year old flip through book, I see how he teaches my youngest son (21 months) what each animal is and what kind of sound it makes. If he does not know or cannot remember, he will ask either me or his mom for help. Granted, my five year old cannot read, but he knows the books are about God’s being with us all the time and so he tells his brother the same truth. We have had fun making animal noises and discussing God’s creation through both of these books.

After seeing how my three sons I have enjoyed these books, I can recommend them as a dad as well as a book reviewer. They can be purchased separate from one another, but to have both of them is to encourage more reading for your kids and more thinking about God’s presence for your family. After all, God is not only with you through the day but the night, too.

Giveaway

Zondervan is sponsoring this week’s giveaway. I have one copy of each book to give to one person (I just could not split the two books up!).  Here is how you can be entered to win both books:

1. On Twitter:  @ChristBookNotes is giving away two books by @JulieCantrell http://tw0.us/4o9
2. On Facebook:  become a fan of Christian Book Notes.
3. Leave a comment below about how your children love to read picture books.
4. Subscribe to my RSS Feed or Email list (your email address is always kept private).  If you subscribe, please send me an email at tdelaney017@yahoo.com to let me know.

Elwell, Ellen Banks.  Illustrated by Caron Turk.  The Toddler’s Songbook.  Wheaton:  Crossway Books, 2009.  45 pp.  $14.99.  Purchase at Westminster for $11.24.

Review

It has been said that I cannot carry the bucket that people carry their tunes in–I can’t sing!  The truth of the matter is, the greatest miracle in my personal life (aside from salvation and getting married) is that my singing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs to God is somehow glorifying to Him.  My wife will tell you that she, too, is not much of a singer.  We are thankful for children’s songbooks like The Toddler’s Songbook.

All kidding aside, this little 45 page book is pretty cool.  Each of the seventeen songs comes with a little poem-like narration that points the child toward God through whatever subject is covered by the song.  For example, Old MacDonald points out that God made all the animals.  While most of the songs are Christian in nature, there are some that are not which makes the illustrative stories that much more helpful. It also helps parents to carve out some time with their smaller children as they read to them these narratives.

The CD that is included is great for the kids throughout the day.  They love the music and sing along quite readily.  My wife and I even find ourselves singing with our children though my oldest has asked me numerous times to stop singing!

The final aspect I would like to comment on in this little songbook are the illustrations.  My children are 5, 3, 21 months and 3 months.  My 21 month old is enraptured by the illustrations and will dance around when the CD is playing.  Each illustration is colorful and lively.

The Toddler’s Songbook makes a great Christmas gift this year and would be enjoyed in every home.  As I said earlier, my wife and I are thankful for books like these because singing is certainly not our strength.  Pick up your copy today and watch as your children dance and play and have fun singing and learning about the glory of God.

Fluharty, Kristi and T. Lively.  Fool Moon Rising.  Wheaton:  Crossway Books, 2009.  40 pp.  $14.99.  Purchase at Westminster books for $9.89.

Review

I am becoming a HUGE fan of the children’s books being released by Crossway in recent months.  Fool Moon Rising is yet another Christ-centered book that you need to read to your children.  The artistic drawings are extremely colorful–pretty difficult given the book takes place during the night time. The rhythm of the lyrics words sticks with you long after you first read it.

The topic of the book is the moon being foolish enough to brag about the light he gives to the world.  One flash from the Sun puts the moon in his place.  The deeper truths of seeing our lives compared to that of Christ and not others is quite a contrast to other children’s books that have been written as of late.

The end of this children’s book contains pictures of various interstellar pictures.  My personal favorite is the “X” structure at Core of Whirlpool Galaxy.  There is a “Did you Know?” section with interesting facts about man and outer space.  The best part of the last couple pages is the “Galactic Didactics” where there are five questions listed for discussion with your children about the book which inevitably leads to Christ and the cross and our sin and need for Christ.

Recommendation

This book is a must own for parents of children younger than eight.  Fool Moon Rising is a wonderfully illustrated, sing-songy children’s book that expresses the deeper theology found in John 1:9.  You can check out a free preview of the Fool Moon Rising offered by Crossway and Westminster.  You can go to FoolMoonRising.com for more information on the book, the authors, and for free downloads and screen savers among other fun items.

Santos, Helen. Caleb’s Lamb. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2007. 95 pp. $10.00. Purchase at Reformation Heritage Books for $7.50.

I cannot call this a review so much as an alert. This book is an excellent tool to teach your children what substitutionary atonement is and how Christ’s death on the cross was foreshadowed in the book of Exodus. I would recommend this book for any child who can read, any child who enjoys being read to, and any person who is a parent or may become a parent.

Caleb’s Lamb is wonderful story about a young shepherd boy who did not want to be a shepherd. After losing a lambing ewe one night, Caleb must deal with the death of the ewe as well as the newborn lamb which lost its mother. Over the course of a year, we witness Caleb grow and mature into a fine young shepherd.

What makes this story so appealing is the reality of the lifestyle of a shepherd and the sometimes hard lessons that everyone learns in life. We are taken on a journey from immaturity to maturity and from no faith to faith. Perhaps the most appealing element to the story is that it is historical fiction. In other words, Caleb’s Lamb takes place in the time of Moses and can be traced in Exodus 1 through Exodus 12:36.

Reading the above mentioned portion of Exodus along with Caleb’s Lamb to your children during Family Worship will bring to life a passage of Scripture that all too often seems to be distant from today’s readers. This little book can be read numerous times and the reader, young or old, will glean something new every time.

Another quality of this book that I discovered while reading it to my children is its applicability to the pastoral ministry.  If you read about Caleb’s dis-like/like for shepherding and apply the wisdom of Asher as a seasoned shepherd, today’s pastor may realize some hidden truths for him as he seeks to better shepherd his flock.  This is a wonderful book to have on your shelf and read to your kids.  Its message can also be a blessing to the man in pastoral ministry.