Christian Book Notes

Meade, Starr. Illustrated by Tim O’Connor. Mighty Acts of God: A Family Story Book. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010. 288 pp. $24.99. Purchase at Westminster for $13.39.

Introduction

Starr Meade has written one of the best children’s fantasy novels I have ever read. It is titled Keeping Holiday (you can read my review here.) In that review I said that Keeping Holiday was “like Pilgrim’s Progress meets Chronicles of Narnia.” Now, she has written a children’s Bible designed with Family Worship in mind.

Review

I am not going to offer a summary of the Bible even if it is in a children’s format. Rather, I will offer a review and critique of this children’s Bible in light of the multitude of Children’s Bibles published in recent years.

Starr makes it a point to hit the major highlights throughout both the Old Testament and New. She spends more of her time in the New Testament than the Old which is actually quite remarkable given she has forty-one chapters in the Old Testament!

At the beginning of each story is a key verse from another part of Scripture showing that the truths in the particular story are supported elsewhere in the Bible. Bold words appear throughout the book indicating words or theological terms that are probably unfamiliar to children (and maybe even the adults). Words in red indicate historic, Reformed Christian doctrinal teachings.

My favorite part of each reading is the “As for Me and My House” section at the end of each day (if you read a story daily). These provide excellent discussion points for the family after reading the story. Sometimes this section even includes activities to further drive the lesson home into the children’s heart.

Recommendation

I realize it may be sounding like a broken record, but I highly recommend Mighty Acts of God to be used as a children’s Bible. Given the multitude of children’s Bibles recently published, I would recommend this one above the others–which is not to say that the others are great in their own right! Rather, the added emphasis on doctrine, introduction to theological terms and discussion points simply makes this particular children’s Bible that much better. I think the best course of action, if you can afford to do this, is to purchase a few different children’s bibles and use them on a kind of rotational basis.