The Beginning Reader's Bible

The Beginning Reader’s Bible is a wonderful book. My 4 ½ year old loves it, and it keeps the attention of my almost 2 year old. First, the illustrations are wonderful, they cover the page and visually add so much to the story. This helped my children grasp the readings better. The book covers stories from the Old and New Testament. The selected stories are great choices, they really engaged my child. She was able to understand the stories and draw conclusions. The stories are written for the younger reader and I appreciate that effort! I must focus on the additional items in the book as well. Not only does the author offer bible verses within the stories, but they also have great activity ideas related to the readings including projects, discussion topics, the ten commandments, and a chart to track which dates stories were read. They also included verses to songs about Jesus, a list of books of the Bible, verses to memorize with a chart to record when the verses were set to memory. I was VERY impressed with this book. I really liked the large size of the book, and while others might not note the built in book mark ribbon my daughter loved that detail as well. I can wrap it up in saying that attention was paid to the details in this book that will be used for years within my house for years. Thank you for producing such a quality book!

The King's Christmas List

In The King’s Christmas List by Eldon Johnson and Illustrated by Bonnie Leick, little Emma goes through a journey to understand the meaning of Christmas. The overall message is about the true meaning behind Christmas. Emma begins to understand that Christmas is not all about gifts, but the idea of giving to others is a way to give to God. The message is delivered when Emma and her dog start a journey to the King’s party. Along the way she finds people in need and helps them, which results in her attending the party without a gift.

I found this to be a wonderful message for children that are reaching the age of understanding the true meaning of the holiday season. It offers great opportunities to discuss with your child the main points in the story. The book has some giving opportunities listed at the end of the book as well. I found that this book really started some great discussions with my 4 year old.

I would like to take a moment to discuss to illustrations in the book – WOW! They were great a fit with the story and characters as well. I really think the essence os the book was captured in the artwork. My 4 year old even commented on how certain things were illustrated in the book.

A Christmas Prayer by Amy Parker

What a great book! A Christmas Prayer by Amy Parker and illustrated by Marijan Ranljak does a nice job of trying to get the real meaning of Christmas across to children. All too often we get mixed up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that we forget to reflect on what Christmas really means. This book offers young readers a wonderful perspective on Christmas and what the celebration is truly about. The book is told through the eyes of a young child at Christmas. First a child is thankful for a loving family and then recounts those involved in the Nativity, Gabriel to Baby Jesus. The book ends with the young child acknowledging that Christmas is more than toys and such – which was a huge area of interest for my 4 year old. The last page really opened the door to some great conversation about the importance of Jesus in the Christmas season. The illustrations are great; the child acts out the various parts of the story in an easy to understand way for children. This would be a great pre-Christmas present to your child. The way the book is written will spark some great conversation that allows families to reflect on Christmas.

Love Your Heart by Tim McGraw

Love Your Heart by Tim McGraw and Tom Douglas is a heartwarming story about Katie and her Dad. Katie has an upcoming talent show at her school she needs to prepare for. She has a variety of talents that she shows her Dad. Many of her talents need work though. As she decides on a talent and is ready for the talent show her friend is unable to perform. Her friend has hurt her hand and cannot beat the school jump rope record. At the last minute Katie decides to help her friend instead of showcasing her own talent. Katie is concerned about her Dad’s reaction, but of course he is happy with her choice to help a friend. Katie’s friend wins the talent show and everyone is happy. At the end of the book the friend gives Katie the crown she won and, of course, dad is proud. Great book about character and helping others while reinforcing a parent’s love. Would recommend to kids going into school or for those little ones with potential friend issues. My 4 year old loved it and understood that helping others is a good thing and you do not always have to “win”.

Hermie - Antonio meets his match DVD

In the DVD Hermie: Antonio meets his match I was surprised by the great animation of the video. Nice colors and the pleasant characters made this a great DVD to watch, the story made it a great DVD as well. Hermie, who is a leader among the animals, has his power position challenged by a traveling group of Scottish Ants. Hermie is not pleased when his new neighbor proves to be bothersome. Hermie hears God’s message about loving thy neighbor. The video does a great job showing how difficult it can be to accomplish love thy neighbor. Hermie and his friends try to follow God’s word.
My 3 year old asked some questions after the video about what it means to Love thy neighbor and she did pick up on the fact that God was speaking directly to Hermie. In too many videos today there are underlying themes or messages and I found none in this DVD. Overall, a great video about a message from God - as well as Hermie’s struggle with trying to keep his promise with God. Hermie proves to be a great influence on his friends, as they too try to love thy neighbor.

The Jesus Book by Stephen Elkins

The Jesus Book by Stephen Elkins is a great basic break down of all things Jesus. The book is broken down into the sections covering Who Jesus is, What Jesus did, What Jesus taught, When it happened, Where is happened, Why it happened and How it happened. Each section does a wonderful job of breaking down the fundamental aspects of Jesus and his life. It lends itself very nicely to use as a teaching tool for younger children. This would be a great addition to any religion class. I will admit some terminology was a little too difficult for my 3 year old to understand, but this book is something that I can use over time to support her understanding of Jesus and his life. The illustrations by Claudine Gevry are wonderfully done. Each page has a basic illustration that does not clutter the page, but assists in the understanding of information in the book. The maps, timelines, and scripture in the book are wonderful additions! The 30 song CD that accompanied to book is great. The songs are targeted towards younger children. My 3 year old was singing and dancing to them as soon as I turned it on. A great CD for the car to sing to!

Read and Share Toddler Bible

The Read and Share Toddler Bible was, overall, a decent book. The book is targeted towards toddlers and so I had a few issues with the book. Some of the stories were not written in a way that a Toddler could grasp. For example, Adam and Eve – after they admitted that they ate the fruit God said “out you go … you can’t live in the garden anymore” this sends the wrong message that children may be asked to leave if they sin. I also wondered why some stories were selected to tell over other stories that may have been more appealing to a toddler. The illustrations were great and I enjoyed the way each story had the original bible selection listed. From an educator stand point – I found the learning suggestions for parents (found after each story) were a good quality. Some were a tad too farfetched. As for the DVD, well…. I think that they had nice intentions; however I think some stories were too straightforward for a toddler. For example when the Kings wife temps Joseph, the acting out is a bit suggestive. The story of Balaam and the Donkey showed him beating the donkey and threatening to kill him. Overall I feel that some stories and word choices were a little too extreme for toddlers. Would I buy this for a gift? Probably not. With the selected Bible stories in this book targeted towards little children, I felt that some stories needed to be handled with a more delicate nature.