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You are here: Home / Archives for Reviews

Reviews

Popular Children’s Bibles Reviewed: A Child’s First Bible

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

A Child’s First Bible is one of so many children’s Bibles. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the variety and unsure of which is best for your bookshelf. So, here at ICM, we’ve compiled some of our thoughts and recommendations in this blog series where we’ll be reviewing some of today’s most popular children’s Bibles. Once you find your fave children’s Bible, check out our post on ways of reading scripture with your kids to get the most out of it!

Child's First Bible

Quick Facts about A Child’s First Bible

  • 255 pages
  • 125 classic biblical passages
  • Question for each story
  • Age Range: 4-8 years old
  • Top Seller on Amazon

Children's Bibles

A Closer Look

There’s no perfect choice for all children everywhere or even for your own child. Each one is a mix of aspects to love as well as those that invite palm to forehead moments. In this series of reviews, we’ll always include what we surmise to be the pros and cons of each Bible and whether or not we’d recommend it to our friends. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at A Child’s First Bible!

Pros of A Child’s First Bible

Engaging Illustrations: Illustrators Nadine Wickenden and Diana Catchpole did a nice job creating consistently colorful, engaging illustrations for young children. They assist children in imagining the biblical texts as they read.

Digestible Story Length: The stories are short, which makes it easy to hold the attention of young readers.

Large Font Size: The text is sized appropriately for young children who are learning to read either along with their parents or on their own.

Classic Stories Included: All the classic stories you hope for from children’s Bibles are included here.

Name Plate Included: Inside the front cover, there is a nameplate page included for gifting it to a child. A children’s director, teacher, or family member would appreciate this.

Compact Size: As far as children’s Bibles go, this is a small one. Stowing it in a bag for church or travel would be easy for that reason.

Child's First Bible

Cons of A Child’s First Bible

Lacking Table of Contents: Having a table of contents would allow for easy reading if a child has a selection of favorite stories they want to keep revisiting. Additionally, if a teacher or parent wants to refer to a particular story it’s incredibly difficult to find.

Lacking Story Titles: What makes it even more difficult to locate a particular story is the lack of story titles. Also, the absence of delineation between stories makes for confusing reading for adults and especially for children. There’s no cue except for narrative flow to signal a story’s end/beginning. Even between the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures there is no divide. Nehemiah ends on one page with “God kept their enemies away.” and the following page begins with Luke 1: “God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Mary something very important.”

Inaccurate Illustrations: The illustrations, though colorful and engaging, are not culturally appropriate. Characters are almost exclusively white with classically European features. And there are a lot of Irish-looking dudes with pale skin and red hair. This obviously isn’t what the biblical characters looked like.

Less Than Ideal Questions: The question for each story leaves something to be desired. They are mostly obvious comprehension questions that do not “highlight important biblical truths” as the product description asserts. There are a few helpful exceptions. For example, “Tell about a time God answered one of your prayers.” And there are a few simply unhelpful ones. For example, “Do you have a Bible? Then God’s rules are near you!” An important note here: The Bible is not a rule book for living our lives. Rather, it is a library of various interpretations of human nature and divine action across genres and contexts. Teaching our children that it is simply a rule book will be confusing, frustrating, and irreconcilable when contradictions and disturbing rules of past eras become apparent in their future reading.

Exclusively Masculine Language for God: God is neither male nor female but possesses a nature far more complex and integrated. If we are to use one gender to metaphorically describe God then we must use all genders. If not, using non-gendered language for God is ideal. This is standard practice in most seminaries; there is no reason it shouldn’t be common practice in the pulpit and faith education.

Child's First Bible

Conclusion

Children’s Bibles are all different, each with desirable qualities. And this Bible has some good things going for it. It is colorful, includes the classic stories you’d hope to see, and has a nameplate for gifting to a child. The stories are short and the font size is large, both good for young readers. However, there are several key things that detract from it. First, navigating through the book isn’t easy without a table of contents. Second, the narratives of each story are difficult to separate without story titles. Third, the characters are almost all white. Fourth, the story questions aren’t all that helpful. Fifth and lastly, the author uses gendered language for God that is exclusively male. So, in spite of it being a top seller on Amazon and boasting over 1,000,000 copies in print, we wouldn’t recommend A Child’s First Bible for young children.

Book Review: Faith at Home by Wendy Claire Barrie

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Faith at Home Book Review

Faith at Home: A Handbook for Cautiously Christian Parents by Wendy Claire Barrie is fantastic. I’ll just make my assessment clear from the get-go. It would be a valuable addition to any home or church library. It’s better than its cover lets on and is a must-read for all of us interested in passing onto our children our Christian faith, a different understanding of the Christian faith than the one we grew up with, or our newly-found Christian faith.

FREE PDF: We’ve put together some helpful information for you to know as you think about buying this new work by Barrie and included much of it in a downloadable PDF which you can get for free. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to get your free outline of the book.

Quick Facts about Faith at Home

Title: Faith at Home: A Handbook for Cautiously Christian Parents
Author: Wendy Claire Barrie
Publisher and Date: Morehouse Publishing, 2016
Page Count: 160 pages
Price: $16 on Kindle, $12.23 on Paperback

About Wendy Claire Barrie

Faith at Home Book ReviewBarrie writes Faith at Home out of her experience as a parent and a Christian educator, directing programs for children, youth, and families since 1989 in seven Episcopal congregations, large and small on both coasts. She is presently serving Trinity Church Wall Street in lower Manhattan and has served as Vice-President and board member of Forma, a network of Christian formation professionals.

Field, Form, and Audience

Faith at Home resides within the fields of faith formation and family ministry. The book’s 160 pages are broken down into eight chapters. These include: Talking about God, Talking with God, Bible Stories, Why Church?, Seasons and Celebrations, Making Home Holy, Finding God in Difficult Times, and Meeting God in Others.

First, Barrie identifies the complexity and challenge of speaking about faith with our children in this ever-globalizing and pluralistic world when many of us disagree about who and what God is. She navigates this quite well, as it’s obvious she’s wrestled on her own and is writing authentically about how she has formulated her theology. Barrie writes from a uniquely Christian perspective and also possesses a clear openness to, and inclusion of, varying points of view and other faith traditions.

Furthermore, Barrie writes with candor, hope, and lightheartedness. An education in Christian family ministry is not necessary to enjoy and apply the suggestions in this handbook. Barrie includes practical ideas in an approachable manner. The title states that the book applies to parents only. Yet, it would be a fantastic resource for grandparents, caregivers, church ministry leaders, and teachers, too.

Resources, Tips, and Ideas

Faith at Home Book ReviewBarrie clearly wants her readers to go forth and do. Not only does she say that, but she makes it easy to do. Throughout the book, Barrie includes references for further reading in the book, even a sprinkling of children’s Bibles she recommends. And, in the back, she gives a list of readings for children and adults. She goes so far as to include a glossary of some of the terms that may be unfamiliar. Faith at Home breaks down each topic simply. Barrie goes about describing ways of welcoming spiritual disciplines into the home, e.g.: prayer, scripture reading, and rituals for each liturgical season as well as celebrations like meal times and birthdays.

She gives practical advice for speaking to children and others in times of difficulty and tragedy. She follows that with a chapter aimed at assisting our children in their relationship with God and their fellow humans by exposing them to varying traditions and perspectives. Her long list of refreshingly simple but nevertheless engaging suggestions makes this a great resource to pull from during all seasons.

Barrie ends with a couple of notes, one to caretakers and one to church leaders. To parents, she encourages risk and faith, both in God and in their own intuition as they go about nurturing their children’s faith. To church leaders, she encourages them in their role as resources for parents, who are the primary pastor of their own children. She challenges leaders to migrate toward a model of church that is based on an intergenerational approach, i.e.: keeping children and youth engaged in church rather than sent off to their own programs.

Potential Uses

This book would be a great choice for…

  • Parenting classes and workshops hosted in your church
  • Gift for parents at baptism
  • Gift for parents after the birth of a child
  • An addition to the church library
  • Gift for a Christian educator or family ministries director

Areas of Improvement

First, as I stated previously, the cover art could be more compelling. Second, it would be helpful to have questions for each chapter. They would be fabulous fodder for conversation among parents in a class, small group, or workshop. Reflecting and sharing could make for deeper meaning and even richer cultivation of families’ faith at home.

Conclusion

Faith at Home Book ReviewOverall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the desire to nurture the faith of children. It’s a quick read filled with practical ideas in a style that invites and encourages caretakers in their own journey. I tend to be disappointed often in the offerings out there for building faith at home. Seldom have I come across a family faith formation book that…

  • is realistic about what parents can actually do given the demands on families
  • acknowledges the hesitation that so many parents feel in passing on their faith tradition
  • possesses a theologically progressive and unapologetically Christian perspective
  • presents the content in such an encouraging, non-critical way
  • offers such a wide range of ideas for the entire year that require intention but little to no prep

If you’re looking for ways to inspire your children in their discovery of God, buy the book. You’ll be happy you did.

BOOK GIVEAWAY: Click here to receive your outline review of the book as a bonus gift!

Rule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat: An Official Handbook for Raising Parents and Children

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

Don't Be an Asshat

Don't Be an Asshat Cover ImageRule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat: An Official Handbook for Raising Parents and Children is a new parenting book written by Bruce Reyes-Chow and Robin Pugh. Robin is an instructor at City College of San Francisco and Bruce is a pastor and author. If you’re looking for a fun book about raising kids, written by two parents who have raised three wonderful daughters, this is a good book to pick up.

As they will mention below, Rule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat is not a Christian book on parenting and not one that you’d find in a Christian bookstore (store owners probably wouldn’t get past the illustrations on the front cover), but it is a parenting book written by two parents who have a deep faith and a lot of stories about raising kids in today’s world.

I had a chance to interview Bruce and Robin, and wanted to share that interview with you below. If you’re ready to go ahead and buy Rule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat, click here. They’re also slowly releasing the contents of the entire book, and you can read some samples here.


#DontBeAnAsshat

Illustrated Ministry (ICM): What led you and Robin to decide to write a book about parenting?

Bruce and Robin: We have a friend who posted on her Facebook page that she thought the bare minimum requirement for being a good parent was “not to raise assholes.” That got us to thinking, “What do we want to teach our own kids?” We had always played with writing a parenting book, and this seemed like as good of a time as any to dive in. We kickstarted it, wrote it, hired a kick-ass designer, an awesome editor, and voila, Don’t Be and Asshat was born!

ICM: What do you think is one of the hardest things about being a parent?

Bruce and Robin: The most frustrating about parenting is that early on it becomes clear that our children are not robots that can be programmed to do certain things if they just have the right code inputted into their cerebral cortex.

Intellectually, we think most parents get that this a good thing and that each child is an individual person and will react and respond differently to the things they experience in the world, but we all would love it if they just always did and believed what they were told. Practically, it would be great if there was a guaranteed cause and effect thing that happens with every teaching and lesson that we we give our kids instead of our kids behaving with their own agency, and often in opposition to what we just thought we taught them.

Don't Be an AsshatICM: Many of our readers are interested in finding ways to talk about faith with their kids – what advice do you have for them?

Bruce and Robin: While the book is not directly addressed to a church audience — if it were, we probably wouldn’t have approved the ass-crack imagery — we do talk a bit about faith, namely to have faith. We think it’s important for our young folks to be able to develop their own belief systems and at some point have genuine agency over those decisions.

What we do not encourage is to raise kids with nothing. We have found that kids that are raised with NOTHING seem even more lost when a spiritual yearning begins to develop and that giving them some healthy foundation of faith will help them to discern and discover their own faith and belief system.

So yes, do the church, mosque, synagogue, etc. thing, but do so with the intention and understanding that at some point they will decide on their own, and that these early years have given them a frame of reference for their search.

ICM: I’m sure there isn’t anything you’d want to change about other parents you’ve encountered before, but if you had one “parenting pet peeve” – what is it and why?

Bruce and Robin: Hmmm . . . oh so many 🙂 Okay, if I have to pick one, it would be when other parents see kids that are having a meltdown in public and the parent/s of the child are clearly embarrassed and frustrated. Rather than give an encouraging, “It’s okay, I know what you’re going through and it will be okay” smile, they give a smug, and condescending look of disapproval as if to say, “MYYYYY kids would never behave in such a manner and you suck as a parent!” We have all been there as parents, but some seem to forget. Come one people, have a heart.

ICM: What is the best piece of advice that you and Robin offer in Rule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat?

Bruce and Robin: For our kids . . .

Well, I would say what the world needs is for our kids to continue the tradition of being able to identify and fight injustice in the world, so some of my favorites in the book are about standing up against injustice, remaining teachable, and protesting.

For the parents . . .

If I had to pick one thing that has been most helpful for me is to know that parents are not the only ones in the world responsible for parenting. Our kids have been raised by communities of people who may not have their own kids, but have been integral to raising our girls. So yeah, even if you don’t have kids, we are counting on your to help raise our kids, and if you have kids, be sure to take advantage of the gift that other in your community are to your own kids.

And for both — Rule #81, When you have to fart, please be considerate and leave the room.


If you are interested in following Bruce and Robin and their new book project online, here are some helpful links:

  • Book on Instagram
  • Book on Twitter
  • Bruce on Twitter
  • Bruce on Instagram
  • Robin on Twitter
  • Robin on Instagram

If you’re ready to just go ahead and buy Rule #2: Don’t Be an Asshat – you can get it on Kindle or paperback on Amazon here.

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