Noah's Boat, a lift a flap board book from Kregel

The Good.. a beautiful, well illustrated, sturdy board book with sturdy pages, beautiful colors, and lift a flaps and hidden words.  A bit of rhyme, a question: Guess Who Noah? and the answers are the hidden animals.   It also gives clues about the animal under the flap and it will teach your kids to think critically as they see and hear about the animal on the pages.  It's a great young baby/toddler book.

The okay... it's a simple Noah's ark rhyme book.  Not really a lot of details, facts, or reference to the Biblical concepts that were a part of the flood, but it's audience is a 2-3 year old, so simple is alright and appealing.

The wonders... it's a really glossy/shiny sturdy board book, but I think because of the shimmer/shine, once little fingers and hands (maybe mouths) have been on this book, I'm not sure if the glossyness will be an asset or something that gets blurred and looks dirty faster than another book.   I also wonder if the point of this book is to teach a little bit about animals via a biblical story to appeal to a wider audience. If that's the case, it meets it's goal. If the goal is to show who God is and why we there was a flood, it's lacking all together.  That won't bother many readers, especially to this young child, but if you want a more biblical account, this isn't for you.

I was given this book to review by Kregel Publications, the review content is my thinking, and I was not required to do anything other than share my response to this book.  This is my opinion as a mom, teacher, and children's ministry leader. 

Tell Me All About Prayer

The good....beautiful illustrations, warm, friendly, colorful, and appealing.  Includes stickers and a cd.  Scripture References every few pages.  Book Formula- What is prayer, and then answers, and an end of book review, fill in the blank that my 6 year old was able to do after one reading.

The okay... the cd music is catchy, but some may consider it cheesy.  The conductor theme is clear on the CD, but my 6 year old boy didn't catch it in the book, and thought it was a policeman, and my 4 year old girl just looked at me.

The wonders... "Magic Genie" neither of my kids grasp this abstract concept that God isn't one.  The interpretation of prayer and the concepts brought out are too advanced for kids, yet not deep enough to be accurate and maybe oversimplified and therefore inaccurate.  (example my son had the stomach flu and vomiting the week we read this, and he prayed asking God to stop him from throwing up, and based on the book wasn't sure why he still threw up 3 more times, he asked God."

I would be very curious about other books in this series. I like the premise, but this is not my favorite tool to teach children about prayer.  I was given this book as a part of the Tyndale Review Network. All opinions are mine, and mine alone.

Unwrapping the Gift an Advent Book by Ann Voskamp

As a mom to four children, a teacher to many, many children in our local church and community, and as a born again believer, I've become focused on taking our holidays and emphasizing Who God is with each natural opportunity and season.  I love when a book can be a simple tool that will help me focus on this without a lot of effort on my part.   

Pinterest has provided many, many ideas to the point that you can be dizzy and crazed trying to implement the ideas unless you plan ahead!  I have prepared some years in the summer for advent, when our lives are relaxed and unfocused as teachers on break with their kids.  But even that is daunting to accomplish most years, if you want to live life focused on your family, not 'stuff.'  

Advent is a more liturgical tradition but as a teacher, any chance to use a cultural tradition and focus on learning, I love to capitalize on it!  And since young hearts and old alike, cannot  help but focus on Christmas for the month of December (and often November too!), why not take time to focus on the real joy of Christmas, the baby born in a manger, to save us from our sins.   It's a month long teachable moment, and when you focus on God's gift, more than your own gifts, your heart is set to glorify the Lord and not yourself.  Advent means waiting-- and why not focus on waiting for Jesus to come to fix our eyes on Who God is.  

So when Tyndale offered the opportunity to review a new advent book, this reading teacher, rejoiced that she could be blessed to get a book I would have purchased mailed to me on release day! I'm review #3 on amazon no less, even though I've been sick and dealing with sick kids all week!  Reading is always a joy and refocusing for me, and even more so when it turns my heart toward my Heavenly Father, and the truth is a great truth for Christmas, but also for ANY days.   

And the book has been such a hit, it's on sale for $14.99 on amazon. Please check, as the prices change daily sometimes.   The book is a hardcover, with thick pages, for little hands to use, it's a high quality format designed to last a long time.  

Here's my amazon review:

A beautiful unwrapping of Who God is, and how His perfect plan came to be from Genesis to the birth of Christ with a focus on God's great love, His plan of salvation, and His delight in each of His people. Written with imagery and analogies as we've come to expect from Ann Voskamp. But clearly it was written with our hearts and our response in mind, many practical images in both picture and word format, discussion questions, and family activities are included with each day's scripture, her story explanation, and her personal application concepts for the listener and the reader alike.

If you are worried that as a busy family, you will not have time for a daily reading, DON'T worry. I was able to read the entire book in just over an hour. I'm sure reading aloud would add a few minutes, but it is achievable. Each day has a scripture reading (in the book), then an explanation and focus on how God's love through the plan that His Son would come to earth to rescue us from our sins and provide salvation. I think that the readings would be most appropriate for elementary age children and above, but even preschoolers would grasp the big truths and connections day to day of God's gift for each of us.

Our family has done the Jesse tree before, but never like this. Be prepared to pause in reflection, thought, and to have your heart held as you recognize through Ann's interpretation, real life examples, and connections to traditional Christmas traditions (lights, singing, celebration, family, ...) intertwined with the truth from God's Word that God's plan is one of love, hope, for each of us from the beginning of time. The ornaments are available for purchase online or you can download a set from her website.

I appreciate that the book gives real scripture from the New Living Translation before a story version with practical application, this makes it unique compared to other storybook Bibles for families. It's definitely a beautiful devotional for an adult as well as our children. Simple, poignant, and relevant to our need to remember Who God is and how He blesses us every day in all things.

I was given this book to review as a part of Tyndale's blog network, but the favorable review is my own personal opinion and delight in a new advent book to share with my own family this December! (and I'm even thinking about sharing it with our Sunday School class as it gives a beautiful timeline of God's redemptive plan).

Thanks for stopping by.  It's a pleasure to share new resources with others who want to Whisper the Word with others.