Review - Mariposa: A Tiny Seed's Big Transformation

Mariposa: A Tiny Seed's Big Transformation
by Leigh Anne Fortner
illustrated by Anastassiya Selezneva
Date: 2022
Publisher: Leigh Anne Fortner
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: Amazon

Growing Can Be Hard...Especially for a Seed!!!

In this beautifully illustrated story in rhyme, a tiny seed is just starting her life in the desert. It seems that nothing can survive in such a harsh environment, or at least that is what she is led to believe...

Can she survive the scorching desert sun?

Will she allow the negative opinions of others to shape her own thoughts?

Will the storm winds sweep her away before she discovers her true identity?

Come along and follow Mariposa's journey of transformation, and teach your kids that we are ALL created with purpose and love.

(synopsis from Amazon; see it on Goodreads)

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not the audience for this book. I don't read a lot of Christian fiction. And this book does have a religious bent to it, which isn't exactly clear from the synopsis. (Unless you look at the Amazon categories, it's not obvious.)

That said, I still want to share my thoughts on this picture book. It's a story told in rhyme about a seed in the desert who grows into a plant. Everyone around her is pretty negative, telling her she's worthless... or even telling her she's things she clearly isn't. (That part was confusing for me. Why was the coyote trying to convince the plant that she was a deadly snake? Is this a religious thing I'm not familiar with?)

The text started off just okay for me. The rhythm is fairly strong at the beginning, although it gets a little sketchy later on. The writing is less impressive. Comma splices are abundant, and though a child listening to the story won't know that, it's kind of annoying to adult readers who can see the words. Anyway, what starts off as a simple story headed in a good direction kind of goes off the rails as God starts booming down from above, solving all the main character's problems. It's literally a deus ex machina! I would've liked to see the flower come to her conclusions about herself on her own... not be told by God.

The illustrations by Anastassiya Selezneva are probably the best part of this book. The characters are cute and appealing, and the warm colour palette really evokes the scorching desert.

I would probably only recommend this to parents who are looking for Christian picture books to read aloud, and who don't mind all the protagonist's problems being solved by the literal voice of God.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.29 out of 5

Review - The Moon Shines Down

The Moon Shines Down
by Margaret Wise Brown & Laura Minchew
illustrated by Linda Bleck
Date: 2008
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library

Forgotten for decades in a dusty, tucked-away trunk, "The Moon Shines Down" brings to life once more the unmistakable voice of Margaret Wise Brown. This soon-to-be classic allows a whole new generation of children to discover, cherish, and enjoy the artistry of this beloved author.

Never before published, "The Moon Shines Down" on children all over the world from right next door to across the sea, from where a Dutch boy dreams and cowbells ring to across the sea in the Far, Far East, through the familiar prayer:

I see the Moon
And the Moon sees me.
God bless the Moon,
And God bless me.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Books like this make me think that, if were ever to achieve any level of fame, I would want to make sure I destroyed any half-finished manuscripts that I'd abandoned because they were complete rubbish. I would not want someone publishing them to try to make a quick buck.

The Moon Shines Down is pretty cringeworthy. It's dated as hell, with a Western slant that's rather off-putting. Laura Minchew may have tried to ameliorate some of the problems when she added some new text to the pages about the Far East and Africa to add a bit more specificity, but the book still refers to Africa as a country, and the Western countries each get their own stanza while the non-Western regions have to share some generalized poetry. The book also features some pretty stereotypical depictions of all the countries, which is disappointing.

I'm not a fan of the rhyming text here. It's clumsy, with little consistency in the metre. It focuses mostly on children, except near the end, where we're inexplicably praying for sea creatures. Why just sea creatures? No idea.

The illustrations are cute, even if what they're depicting is a bit problematic. But I don't understand why a koala is visiting all of these different countries, including Australia... since Australia is in the middle of the book. Wouldn't it have made more sense to start with Australia and show the koala setting off on his journey?

I don't know. This was just a bit weird. Books that are published posthumously are rarely any good... especially when they've been tinkered with by other people.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5

Review - Do Animals Believe In God?

Do Animals Believe In God?
by Carl Solomon Sr.
Date: 2018
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 28
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Do Animals Believe In God? is a story of what some of the creatures of the earth might say if they could speak if asked, “Do you believe in God?” This book is filled with beautiful illustrations of Daniel’s journey.

Daniel decides to go on a journey to ask the creatures he meets whether they believe in God. Each of the creatures has their own special story to tell Daniel about why they believe in God. As Daniel ventures across different terrains—from his backyard, to a farm, through a forest, into a jungle, across a garden, along a river, and along the shore of the ocean—he meets creatures big and small that share their story with Daniel. It surprises Daniel to learn that each creature has its own unique story to tell about God, which reflects on their own way they experienced God, and they share their story in a way that is easily understood by Daniel. Some of the answers to Daniel’s question will surprise you or humor you.

As the story comes to a close, Daniel finds himself returning home after a day filled with exploration, adventure, and answers. His final question about God is to his mom and dad, who confirms what Daniel had learned on his journey: God is the Creator of all living creatures on the earth, under the earth, in the oceans and seas, and in the air.

This easy-to-read and colorful book allows a child’s imagination to wander and think what a creature would say if they could understand and respond to a question asked by a little boy named Daniel. Its message is timeless and eternal. Each page brings a different message than the last page read, so your child will, in anticipation, want to see what is next.

(synopsis from NetGalley; see it on Goodreads)

I was really curious as to what the message of this book would be. After all, believing in a deity (or deities) is something that appears to be uniquely human. According to this book, though, animals are just as sentient and sapient as we are, able to contemplate their place in the world and realize that they were created by one specific deity. Books like this are kind of insulting, in my opinion. They make Christians appear overly credulous and unable to think critically. They're preaching to the choir, and to anyone who doesn't share the belief system, they look an awful lot like propaganda.

I don't really have anything good to say about this one. The writing is pretty bad, with a verb conjugation error in the very first sentence. The rest of the book is written almost like a script or an Internet meme, with no conventional dialogue tags (even though almost the whole book is dialogue):

DANIEL: Excuse me, Mr. Whale, do you believe in God?

WHALE: Yes, I do! Remember, God asked me to swallow Jonah to test Jonah's faith in Him.

Most of the animals' reasons for believing in God are rather circular. Many are a variation on: God made me, so I believe in God, because He made me. The snake is an exception but, like the whale, its belief is tied back to Bible stories (it believes in God because it sinned, so God made it crawl on the ground).

I wondered what livestock might believe. Would animals crammed into a stinking feed lot believe in God? We don't really find out. The only livestock animal that's featured is a cow in a pristine pastoral setting, and she believes in God because God made grass for her to eat so she can make milk and serve humans. In fact, the last sentence of the book talks about how animals were only put here by "the Master" for us to enjoy. (This book would not go over very well with vegans.)

The layout isn't great, either, with the text sometimes layered over dark and busy parts of images, making it challenging to read at times. The digital illustrations are bland and uninteresting.

I wasn't expecting to love this; I was more curious than anything. I don't think I would've been satisfied with the answers in this book as a kid, though. The question is kind of ridiculous to begin with, but I wish there had been more than circular reasoning offered. Animals believe in God because they believe God created them? Sorry, but that's a weak argument... even for a children's picture book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Christian Faith Publishing, Inc for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 1/5
Originality: 1/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 0.67 out of 5

Review - Long Ago, On a Silent Night

Long Ago, On a Silent Night
by Julie Berry
illustrated by Annie Won
Date: 2019
Publisher: Orchard Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 45
Format: e-book
Source: library

Long ago, in a dusty barn, a mother took a child in her arms, wrapped him snug, made his bed in the hay. He was her gift that Christmas Day. There's no sweeter gift than a life so new. My best gift, little one, is you.

In this poignant and lyrical story by Printz Honor recepient Julie Berry, the miracle of Christmas and the promise in every new child come together in a luminous celebration of unconditional love and hope. With tender, incandescent illustrations by Annie Won, the wonder of the nativity story and the marvel of every baby come alive in a wholly extraordinary book for families everywhere.

A special, beautiful keepsake storybook to read, share, and cherish every Christmas season with the ones you love.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Long Ago, On a Silent Night takes the Nativity as its starting point and weaves a lyrical narrative that connects two families thousands of years apart.

While this is a book that celebrates the more religious aspects of Christmas, it's also a book about love and welcoming a new child. I think it will probably appeal to parents because of this. But there are some cute touches throughout that tie the two time periods together (I won't spoil those for you) that kids will probably enjoy seeing.

The illustrations are lovely and luminescent. Annie Won has managed to capture light beautifully on the pages.

Overall, this is a strong Christmas offering. While it doesn't actually tell the Nativity story in detail like some other picture books (relying on readers' previous knowledge of the subject instead), it finds a clever way to relate the present-day birth of a beloved child to the birth of Jesus.

Quotable moment:

Premise: 4/5
Meter: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5

Review - A Perfect Tree

A Perfect Tree
by Denise Dunham
illustrated by Samantha Wade
Date: 2018
Publisher: Capture Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book memoir
Pages: 39
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Trying to stay cheerful about her new school's 2018 Christmas exchange, DeeDee is betrayed by a cunning little girl who lies about the present with Dee-Dee's name on it. Did Evelyn steal it?

DeeDee's winter holiday becomes a downsizing nightmare when her parents move into an oh-so tiny house. Added to this, dad explains that their new house is too small to set up a holiday tree. She gets ANGRY. In DeeDee's spiral of disappointments, all is not lost! Surprises are in store when accidents happen. Find out, what all the buzz is about!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

When a book is this overtly Christian, it has to be very strong for me to like it. Sadly, this is a very weak holiday offering with problems such as incorrect and inconsistent grammar, a poor layout, a confusing narrative timeline, and lacklustre illustrations.

DeeDee moves with her family into a new house (apparently sight unseen, as even her parents are surprised by its diminutive size). She looks forward to celebrating Christmas in their new home. One day at school, the kids have a gift exchange, but DeeDee doesn't get anything (except the emergency present her teacher kept on hand). Then she finds out that their house is too small for a Christmas tree. So she prays to God, and a tiny Christmas tree blows off the back of some guy's truck. Hallelujah!

Aside from the Christian propensity to attribute everything good to God, the story didn't impress me in other ways. When DeeDee and her family move in, we only see her and her parents. Then the book talks about a dining table that seats six, and I was confused. Turns out, DeeDee has three sisters! They're not even mentioned until the ninth page. The next confusing bit came with the tree. The book says that one of the family's traditions is to hunt for a perfect tree. The illustrations show them out in the woods, doing just that. Then DeeDee talks about her memories of decorating the tree, and there's an illustration of the family with their Christmas tree. So, naturally, I assumed that the tree had been acquired and decorated. But ten pages later, Dad tells the girls they don't have room for a Christmas tree that year! The other part that could cause some confusion is the gift exchange at school. It's not really explained how it works, so when Evelyn tells DeeDee she got her a Barbie, and then Santa hands out the presents, I assumed that every kid was assigned a giftee to buy for. But Evelyn didn't buy anything, leaving DeeDee to try to be grateful for the hat and scarf her teacher gives her. (A couple of problems I see here. Maybe this was based on what really happened, but what kind of clueless teacher buys a hat and scarf as an emergency present? And why was this gift exchange not monitored more closely so horrible little brats like Evelyn couldn't torment the kids they didn't like?) The story ends abruptly after a tiny tree is serendipitously gained, and the reader is tossed onto a page with an author's note about God and praying.

The layout of the book isn't very good. There's one page that has what looks like placeholder text layered under the actual text (hopefully, this has been corrected in other editions), and one page's background is so busy that it's difficult to read the text at all. The illustrations themselves are kind of rough, and the characters suffer from perspective issues.

This could have been a good story about a childhood incident if the narrative hadn't been so confusing. Events and characters needed to be mentioned earlier (or just mentioned, period) for the story to have a more cohesive flow. Right now, I just have too many questions about the story that are still bothering me: Why didn't the parents know that the house they were moving their family of six into was so tiny? Why wasn't the school's gift exchange monitored more closely by the teacher? Why didn't the teacher have an age-appropriate present on hand? Why was Dad so averse to cutting the branches off a little tree to make it fit in the house (he did know the whole trunk was cut, right)? These questions are distracting, and they didn't need to be. With some tighter storytelling, most of these issues could've been resolved to make the story flow more smoothly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Capture Books for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 1/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.5 out of 5

Review - Good News! It's Christmas!

Good News! It's Christmas!
by Glenys Nellist
illustrated by Lizzie Walkley
Date: 2019
Publisher: Discovery House
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 18
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Good News! It’s Christmas! is a playful and joyful introduction to the Christmas story. Written by Glenys Nellist, the best-selling and award-winning author of Love Letters from God, the simple, skilled rhythm of the text makes it an ideal read-aloud experience for both parent and child. With its vivid images and biblical narrative of Jesus’s birth, this book makes a perfect gift for the little ones in your life.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is the third book I've read by this author-illustrator duo, and it's probably my favourite. Good News! It's Christmas! tells a simplified version of the Christmas story for young readers using strong rhyming text and cute illustrations. There's not a lot of detail, and plenty of plot elements are left out... but for very young children, it gets the basic idea across.

I'd recommend this to those looking for kid-friendly versions of the nativity of Jesus, or for those looking for sweet picture books that celebrate the more religious side of Christmas.

Thank you to NetGalley and Discovery House for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: 4/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.43 out of 5

Review - One Big Heart

One Big Heart: A Celebration of Being More Alike than Different
by Linsey Davis & Beverly Davis
illustrated by Lucy Fleming
Date: 2019
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

Linsey Davis, Emmy-winning correspondent for ABC News and author of The World Is Awake, brings us One Big Heart, A Celebration of Being More Alike than Different, a beautiful picture book that celebrates diversity as well as the things we all have in common.

From skin, hair, and eyes in a multitude of colors to different personalities and interests, God gave us all special traits and characteristics that make us uniquely ourselves. And we all have things in common too: like sharing fun and laughter on the playground, a sense of curiosity, big feelings, and so many other things that show how we are all more alike than we are different.

Combining lyrical rhymes and Lucy Fleming’s whimsical art, this inspiring story of inclusion and connection is the perfect read-aloud for kids ages 4 – 8.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I got this one from the library without reading the synopsis. I was a little disappointed to find that it's a rather religious picture book, and as such is not really suited to atheists and non-believers (or anyone who isn't a fan of capital-G God in picture books).

However, this book does have some strong points. The rhyming text is lovely, and deftly does what it sets out to accomplish: show that we have more similarities than differences. The illustrations are, for the most part, wonderful. A diverse selection of children is shown, and there's even one little girl who's missing an arm (I think this is the first time I've seen a child amputee depicted in a picture book).

On the flip side, there are a few issues parents should be aware of. First is the aforementioned religious flavour of the book; that's just not going to fly for some readers. Second, I thought there could've been a little more diversity shown; the children are all very Western, and there was an opportunity missed in the lunchtime illustration to show the kids eating a variety of foods (everything on that table is standard Western-culture lunch fare: e.g., sandwiches, pizza, fruit, and juice boxes.) Finally, there's the issue of the food descriptions for skin colour (which even appear on the back cover, further reinforcing the problem). I'm surprised this made it in, given that the author is a POC herself. Her children might be able to get away with describing people's skin with words like "melon" and "chocolate"... but if a white person's kids did the same thing, they'd be liable to get the side-eye (or worse). If we really want to teach kids that it's not okay to use food adjectives to describe appearances, those descriptions really shouldn't be appearing a children's book.

Some of those issues rather narrow down the audience this book would be appropriate for. It would be great for religious children of colour who are allowed to compare their skin colour to chocolate. But I'd be hesitant to recommend it to those outside of that group, no matter how cute the illustrations are.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 4/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 3 out of 5

Review - Good News! God Made Me!

Good News! God Made Me!
by Glenys Nellist
illustrated by Lizzie Walkley
Date: 2019
Publisher: Discovery House
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 18
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Good News! God Made Me! is a whimsical introduction to God as our Creator. Written by Glenys Nellist, the best-selling and award-winning author of Love Letters from God, the simple, skilled rhythm of the text makes it an ideal read-aloud experience for both parent and child. With back-and-forth questions and answers of a curious child, this book helps you to show your children how they are fearfully and wonderfully made.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is the second book I've read by this duo, the first being Good News! It's Easter! While Christian books aren't really my thing, I wanted to see what this one was like (particularly because I liked the illustrations in the Easter book).

This is fine for very young children who'll accept the answer "God did it" for pretty much every question they throw at you, but I'm afraid it wouldn't really go far enough for older children (unless they've already accepted that God is the answer to everything). In this sense, it's pretty much a "preaching to the choir" book; it's not going to offer much to non-Christians, especially those past the age of 4 or 5.

The illustrations are adorable, though. They're highly appealing and show a nice amount of diversity. (I'm not sure they really have much to do with God, however. They're basically just scenes of a family doing everyday things; the text could easily be swapped out for something else and the pictures would still work.)

So this is a nice book for very young Christian children. I just have to say, though, that I really don't like the part of the synopsis that talks about being "fearfully and wonderfully made". I realize that's a Bible quote, but I don't like the idea that people are teaching children to be afraid of a God that supposedly loves them. (Talk about confusing!) Thankfully, that quote isn't actually used in the book. (The book uses the New Living Translation of Psalm 139:14, which leaves out the part about fear.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Discovery House for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 4/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.71 out of 5

Review - A Church for All

A Church for All
by Gayle E. Pitman
illustrated by Laure Fournier
Date: 2018
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

This simple, lyrical story celebrates a Sunday morning at an inclusive church that embraces all people regardless of age, class, race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. All are welcome at the church for all!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

The premise of this book is good. The execution, not so much. Sure, it celebrates diversity, but only certain kinds. With the line "weak and healthy" (as a comparison of opposites), it becomes an ableist text. Disabled people aren't weak. Honestly. You don't write a book celebrating certain marginalized communities by insulting other marginalized communities.

I just can't get past that bit. Teaching children that people who aren't healthy (and that could mean someone with a mental illness, a chronic illness, or even just a cold) are weak doesn't seem like something a picture book should be doing.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5

Review - Don't Blame the Mud

Don't Blame the Mud
by Marty Machowski
illustrated by Craig MacIntosh
Date: 2019
Publisher: New Growth Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 33
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

For young readers and families, Don’t Blame the Mud paints a vivid and accurate picture of sin and God’s plan of redemption. Written by best-selling children’s author Marty Machowski, this beautifully illustrated picture book teaches children how to recognize the lure of temptation and the truth that bad choices lead to bad consequences.

One day, Max takes the muddy path along the creek home, disregarding his mother’s reminder to keep his school clothes clean. After crashing into a mud puddle, he tries to hide his mistake and discovers the stain of his sin goes deeper than the mud he can wash away. In this lovable, relatable, and heartwarming tale, Max learns his heart needs to be cleaned, and Jesus is the only one who can wash away his sin.

By clearly articulating the gospel, Don’t Blame the Mud helps parents create an environment of confession so kids can own up to their own mistakes—in the freedom of Christ—rather than place the blame elsewhere. Parents, teachers, and caretakers can help children identify with the real-life draw of temptation and the real-life consequences of sin, understanding the value of God’s salvation through the cross. Instead of teaching kids how to deal with a problem, Machowski uncovers the real issue of sin and provides a gospel answer.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Let me start out by saying that I'm not a Christian, and therefore am not the audience for this book. But I am interested in religion and trying to understand why people believe what they believe. I've read a few Christian picture books, and have enjoyed some more than others. This book, however, is one of the weaker ones I've read, combining a potentially confusing message with uneven illustrations and a trite plot.

Max gets muddy on his way home from school, even though his mom told him not to. So he tries to hide the evidence. It doesn't work, and he's forced to confess (and shower). But he still doesn't feel clean. It isn't until he asks God to forgive him for his sin that everything is hunky-dory.

As a non-Christian, I was confused for much of the book. It repeatedly talks about sin as going your own way and not God's way. What does that even mean? In this book, it appears to mean unquestioning obedience of your parents... which to me seems like an idea ripe for abuse. How many children have come to harm after an adult told them that what they were being subjected to was "God's way"?

The story itself is so bland and ridiculous, it will probably only appeal to very young children. Max is young enough to try to blame getting dirty on the mud itself, and yet in some of the illustrations, he almost looks like a teenager! So I'm not entirely sure what age group this book is aimed at. I'm guessing it's aimed at younger children, because there are a few pages at the back that are intended for parents. They, too, don't seem to know who their audience is. There are instructions on further brainwashing your children, but there is a lot of information that I would've thought Christian adults would already know (e.g., Jesus never had a bad thought in his life, we're all dirty sinners, getting nailed to a cross magically absolves everyone else of personal responsibility). Unless this is intended to be a conversion tool for the entire family, it doesn't make a lot of sense to put all those basics in there.

I tried to keep an open mind when I went into this, and until around the 3/4 mark I thought it was just a mediocre children's story about a kid trying to weasel his way out of trouble. It's the last 1/4 of the book that's going to narrow its audience. Unlike some of the other Christian titles I've read which were based on Bible stories, this seems to be little more than a tool to gain children's unquestioning obedience. But I don't even know how well it would work for that, since the overall message is kind of muddy (pun intended). How are you supposed to know what's your way and what's God's way? The only answer I get from reading this book is that if it's something you want to do, it must be wrong. That doesn't seem like a very healthy message at all.

But, like I said, I'm not the audience for this. Your mileage may vary.

Thank you to NetGalley and New Growth Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.67 out of 5

Review - Good News! It's Easter!

Good News! It's Easter!
by Glenys Nellist
illustrated by Lizzie Walkley
Date: 2019
Publisher: Discovery House
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 18
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Written by best-selling and award-winning author Glenys Nellist, Good News! It’s Easter! is a playful and joyful introduction to the gift of new life through Jesus. With its vivid imagery and stories of both nature and Jesus coming to life, this book will surely delight young readers and intrigue them to learn more about the salvation message.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Oh, dear. This is not the book for a heathen like me.

The pictures are very cute, and the rhyming text is nice for the majority of the book as new life blossoms in the spring. (Well, it was all good except for the rabbit "bouncing" his speech. How does one do that, exactly?) But then... oh, but then Jesus jumps out of a cave shouting about salvation. It was just too much for me, and I actually laughed out loud. I knew there was going to be some sort of religious message here; I just didn't expect a jack-in-the-box Jesus to come springing out. (Thank goodness it wasn't a pop-up book!)

I'm afraid I don't really get it. The book would've been fine on its own as a story about spring and renewal. The religious aspect just kind of comes out of nowhere and hits you over the head. It's kind of unnecessary, and turns what could've been a book with wide appeal into one that's aimed at a smaller audience. If the author wanted to write a book about Jesus' resurrection, she should've just done that; combining it with all the nature stuff (including the monarch butterfly, which I'm not sure even exists in the Middle East) is just confusing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Discovery House for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.43 out of 5

Review - Bible Infographics for Kids Volume 2: Light and Dark, Heroes and Villains, and Mind-Blowing Bible Facts

Bible Infographics for Kids Volume 2: Light and Dark, Heroes and Villains, and Mind-Blowing Bible Facts
by Harvest House Publishers
Date: 2019
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 56
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Boring vs. the Bible? No contest!

Ding, ding, ding! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Bible Infographics for Kids Vol. 2, where we're going to compare some of the most AWESOME opposites from God's Word and witness amazingly EPIC battles between good and evil.

See these fierce foes square off in the infographic octagon:

Light vs Darkness—and why you'll never see them in the same place.

Angels vs Demons—both are powerful, but only one side will win in the end.

Feats of God vs Failures of Men—God did incredible things. Men? Not so much.

False Gods vs the One True God—separating the many pretenders from the only real contender.

Heaven vs. Hell—hell is no joke. But neither is heaven. It will be seriously mind-blowing!

Plus...fantastic animals, fallen empires, the 411 on the four Gospels, and way more!

And yes, we're going to explore more fun and quirky facts from God's Word and gain a bunch of Bible knowledge along the way. Because that's what infographics do. They make the most exciting book in the world that much more craze-mazing!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

While I did learn a few things from this book, I can't really say that I enjoyed it. Aside from grating against my non-Christian sensitivities, the book is kind of sloppy in its editing... which is going to bother me no matter what the subject matter.

I debated whether to tag this as non-fiction or not, but finally decided in favour of it simply because the book heavily references the Bible. Whether any of the stories in it are true is beyond the scope of this review. This is a book that will likely only appeal to Christians, anyway, but I want to address a few things that I noticed while I was reading.

The first thing is the editing. The way the text is written isn't very consistent. The spelling of names could change within the same page, comma conventions for large numbers aren't consistently followed, and BC dates aren't always noted as such. I wasn't about to go and check each and every Bible reference, either, so there may be even more mistakes that I'm not aware of. I really hate to see such sloppy work, especially in a book for kids.

Tied into this first point are the outright errors. Some of these may be confusing. The book tries to throw in a little bit of science while talking about stars. Unfortunately, it gets things spectacularly wrong by stating:

The closest star to our galaxy is 4.2 light-years away, so the light we see is 4.2 years old.

This was probably supposed to be "solar system" rather than "galaxy", and any sharp-eyed reader is going to spot errors like this pretty quickly. So why didn't the editors? There are other things that are just plain wrong or confusing, like the reference to "jolly old St. Nicholas", referring to the historical figure... but who's pictured as Santa Claus, complete with red coat and hat. The book also claims that the Red Sea is a mistranslation of the Reed Sea... but when I looked it up, all I could find were old names in various languages all making reference to the colour red, possibly because of a particular reddish cyanobacteria that blooms in the waters there.

I was fairly engaged until about the halfway point, and that's where some pretty big leaps in logic start to make their appearance. We read about poor Uzziah who got a skin disease that deformed his face. Today, we know that that sort of thing just happens sometimes. But this book ignores anything scientific and attributes his affliction to God being miffed because he lit some incense. The section on hell is pretty horrifying (at least to a non-Christian; I can't understand why anyone who claims to be loving would want to bombard their children with such terrible thoughts and make them afraid they haven't done enough to escape a dismal fate). The section that tries to describe the Trinity just confused me. I'm not even sure the book knows what it's trying to say!

Circular logic and downright contradictions mar what could've been an interesting exploration of the Bible. Rather than simply explaining what the Bible says, this book interprets quite a bit of it, and sometimes it's a bit of a stretch. At one point, it talks about how a belief in witchcraft is a bad thing... and then, shortly after, it talks about how the Israelites saved themselves from the 10th plague by smearing lambs' blood on their doorposts in what appears to be some sort of magic ritual. So... which is it? At another point in the book, Samson is depicted as a not-so-bad guy... but he's later referred to as "the really bad" because he was tricked by Delilah. Way to blame the victim.

I wouldn't recommend this book in general, and because of the sloppiness, I wouldn't recommend it to Christians, either. It was an okay idea to do this in an infographic form to make the information easily digestible... but I still don't see why there are Bible characters running around with cellphones and pepperoni pizza. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.83 out of 5

Review - An Unexpected Hero: A Bible Story About Rahab

An Unexpected Hero: A Bible Story About Rahab (Called and Courageous Girls)
by Rachel Spier Weaver & Anna Haggard
illustrated by Eric Elwell
Date: 2019
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Have Faith That God Will Help You Do Great Things

Rahab is an adventurous young girl who enjoys playing with her siblings in the big, bustling city of Jericho. As she grows up, she makes a lot of bad choices, then desperately wants to change her life. Does God have a special plan for Rahab?

When two Israelite spies come to Rahab's door, she bravely offers them a place to hide. Then God gives her a great idea to help them escape and the spies agree to protect Rahab and her family once Israel takes over Jericho. And when that day finally comes, God keeps His promise to Rahab because of her faithfulness and courage, even making her a great-great-great-great-great-grandmother to Jesus.

With God's help, you can be just like Rahab—called and courageous.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I normally wouldn't pick up a picture book like this, as I don't have a lot of interest in Bible stories or Christian literature in general. But the cover kind of drew me in, and I thought it might be interesting to read about a historical heroine. I'd never heard of Rahab or her story, so I went into this one completely ignorant... and I think my experience serves to highlight a few problems with this book.

To begin with, the book assumes the reader has knowledge of the story. That's probably not a good assumption to make, especially with a children's book. I'm guessing Rahab was a prostitute or something, given the euphemisms used, and the vague authors' note at the back. But most of that is pretty much glossed over in favour of the story about the two Israelite spies. Rahab spots them outside the city walls and immediately says, "They look like Israelites." Apparently, everyone in Jericho knows who these Israelites are, and the reader is supposed to know, too. They have a god who performs miracles, so naturally He's the talk of the town.

Now, the next part of the story is where it gets tricky for me. The two Israelite spies appear at Rahab's door and basically tell her that they're there to scout out the land in preparation for taking it over. Rahab thinks this is hunky-dory and decides to help them hide. Now, I don't know about you, but that seems like kind of a treasonous act to me. If some colonial power shows up at your doorstep and tells you they're going to take over, why would you help them? I mean, maybe there's a reason, but this book doesn't explain it. Later, the book talks about Rahab needing to choose between the "evil king" or the "people of God". Unfortunately, this is the first mention of the king of Jericho being evil. Was he? I don't know. I don't know if all kids reading this book would know, either.

Anyway, Rahab decides to stand with the Israelites, and makes a risky deal with the spies. When the Israelites invade, she and her family will be spared.

The Israelites come and make a bunch of noise that knocks down the walls (never mind the supposedly evil king; the city has some infrastructure problems if a bunch of shouting guys with horns can cause their walls to collapse). I was not a fan of this part of the book. I don't know what the final version will be like, but the ARC has three repeating spreads of the walls falling into rubble with the words CRACK!! POP!! BOOM!! on each one, each in a different font. (It's almost like the book decided it wanted to be a graphic novel for a moment.) Rahab and her family somehow aren't crushed by all the falling masonry and her spy friends rescue them.

The next part of the book reads as pretty ridiculous to non-believers:

Because of her courage, God made Rahab a part of the greatest story on Earth: She became the great-great-great-great-great-grandmother to Jesus.

I don't know how you get made the ancestor to someone who won't be born for over a hundred years. That's just... My mind ties in knots just thinking about the logistics. Did God have this starting line-up of ancestors for Jesus ready to go? Did He swap them in or out based on their actions or faith? This part just seems kind of silly, and it serves to further distance the book from less religious readers.

The ARC is very rough, with certain blocks of text being repeated on some pages (as if the layout artist couldn't decide where the words should go). I'm also not sure if that collapse sequence is going to be three spreads long in the final version, or if that was more experimentation. The illustrations, however, are fairly nice. I can't really complain about those.

Overall, this book is a little too reliant on previous knowledge of the Bible and a Christian worldview to be appealing to more secular audiences. That's a shame, since it's always nice to read stories about women who lived in the past.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2 out of 5

Review - My Christmas List

My Christmas List
by Amy Parker
illustrated by Daniel Fernández
Date: 2013
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

"Dear God, on this Christmas, instead of toys and lots of stuff, I want Christmas for the whole wide world, especially those without enough."

My Christmas List is a thoughtful children's book written as a rhyming prayer that will remind kids of the true needs people have during the holiday season and all year long around the globe, from starving children in Third World countries to adults in need of work and all who don't yet know Jesus as Savior.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Let me preface this by saying I have no problem with a child asking God to help others in need. If that's your belief system, fine. Christmas seems like the perfect time of year to do it, too. But this book goes further than that. In fact, it goes way too far, becoming little more than a piece of evangelical propaganda that will probably only find appeal among hard-core Christians. (We've got a huge case of preaching to the choir here.)

Early on in the book, things got really offensive really quickly. The boy is writing his Christmas list, but not to Santa Claus. He's writing to God... and the first thing he asks for is basically conversions:

That little girl in Korea,
She only needs to hear Your name.
And a big, grown man in Russia,
Well, God, he just wants the same.

This is accompanied by a picture of a little girl watching a group of Buddhist monks praying in front of a statue. How utterly arrogant, presumptuous, and condescending! This is the attitude that led to some of the worst atrocities of colonialism. This is the attitude that got John Allen Chau killed recently. Look, just because Christianity floats your boat doesn't mean that it'll work for everyone else. Other people have their own religious traditions that work just fine for them. Respect that. Do unto others and all that; if you wouldn't want someone coming and telling you your whole religion was a pack of lies and you'll be doomed forever if you don't change your beliefs, then don't do it to others (a sentiment that works just as well all year round... not just at Christmas).

The book states that "Christmas for the world began" with Jesus' birth. The Christian celebration, maybe. But unless you're observing it in a really literal way and foregoing all the recognizable trappings of the modern holiday (which are illustrated throughout the book), that's kind of untrue. The first recorded Christmas celebration wasn't until 336 AD, and some of the elements of the holiday we celebrate today (whether we're Christian or not) come from the older Roman festival of Saturnalia. Christmas trees date from the Renaissance. To gloss over the history like that just makes the book seem even more like propaganda.

The pictures are all right, but nothing special. I had to go back and actually look at them again because my eyes had kind of glazed over with rage the first time after that presumptuous crap about non-Christians needing to be proselytized at.

I do not recommend this one. There are probably other books out there with kids praying to God for help for their fellow man. And if that's what this had been, I might not have hated it as much as I did. When a book starts encouraging children to disrespect others' beliefs, then my goodwill for the book goes down.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: 1/5
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 1/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 0.86 out of 5

Review - The Time Keeper

The Time Keeper
by Mitch Albom
Date: 2012
Publisher: Hyperion
Reading level: A
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 224
Format: e-book
Source: library

In this fable, the first man on earth to count the hours becomes Father Time.

The inventor of the world's first clock is punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift. He is banished to a cave for centuries and forced to listen to the voices of all who come after him seeking more days, more years. Eventually, with his soul nearly broken, Father Time is granted his freedom, along with a magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning of time.

He returns to our world - now dominated by the hour-counting he so innocently began - and commences a journey with two unlikely partners: one a teenage girl who is about to give up on life, the other a wealthy old businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. And stop the world to do so.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I thought this book sounded like a quick, interesting read with a unique premise.  While I did enjoy some of the aspects of the story, I didn't like others.  Much of my opinion about this book is subjective, though; I'm sure some people will like it for the same reasons that I disliked it.

Please, dear author, I want some more...

I can honestly say that I've never read a book that features Father Time as a character.  So that piqued my interest in the first place.  I did enjoy the fable aspect -- even though it did make the story seem a little too simplistic at times -- and I do appreciate what Albom was trying to do here.  Unfortunately, the execution of the idea in this case means that some people will love the book and others might feel a bit alienated.

It's all a matter of taste...

I suppose it's my own fault for not realizing that this is, basically, Christian fiction.  I'm not a Christian, and most of the Christian fiction I've read has left me cold.  I can't really relate to where the author is coming from, and I get a little annoyed by the implication that a certain way of thinking is the only way.  This book is especially guilty of that.  From the punishment of Dor for simply being intellectually curious to the deterministic ideas about God's plan for each life to the judgmental attitudes about suicide, the story is steeped in certain religious ideas that can be fairly off-putting to someone who doesn't share the same faith.  I was especially annoyed with the whole discussion of suicide.  One character attempts it and it's implied that they really didn't have a reason because other people have it so much worse.  This sort of judgment really bothers me because it shows a lack of empathy and compassion; just because one person in a difficult situation can handle it doesn't mean that another person in a different difficult situation can.  Then we end up minimizing the problems of others.  So that really bothered me.

The other issue I have is with the plot itself.  I don't understand why Dor was "punished" (it's apparently not a punishment to lock someone in a cave by themselves for six thousand years and let them listen to people's anguished cries; it's a "blessing").  The book says Dor sought to control time.  As far as I can tell, he only sought to measure it.  Nobody human can control time, so punishing Dor for something that he wouldn't be able to do in the first place seems like a really cruel thing to do.  Also, why was he the only one punished?  Everyone who came after measured time, and they got away with it (this part of the story was also not explained very well; Dor was exiled away from civilization, so how he somehow taught the whole rest of the world how to count the hours is beyond me).  I mean, I'm all for fantasy and fables, but they have to make sense.

Let's get technical...

The story is written in simple language, and it seems relatively polished.  (Although, I may just be saying that because I've recently read quite a few self-published books that haven't been edited very well at all.)  However, Albom does phrase things in a confusing way sometimes.  There were a few points in the book where I just didn't understand a sentence at all!

The verdict...

If you enjoy reading Christian fiction, you might get some enjoyment out of this book.  However, if you don't, you might find some of the same things as problematic as I did.  With some of the plot holes fixed, this would have been a stronger book... but I'm still not sure if I would have liked it.  Christian fiction just doesn't seem to be my thing.

Quotable moment:

There are as many expressions with "time" as there are minutes in a day.

But once, there was no word for it at all. Because no one was counting.

Then Dor began.

And everything changed.

Premise: 3/5
Plot: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Editing: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 ladybugs