Ahh, I love well produced children’s books! I love the smooth covers, the crisp spine, the high quality illustrations drawing readers into layers of meaning. 10Publishing’s, The True King, is a Christian children’s book that hits all those score cards for me. However, as I’m finding with a lot of theologically heavy kids’ books these days, I’m a little restrained from full enthusiasm.
Written by Nancy Guthrie, an American Bible teacher, writer and podcaster, The True King is an illustrated children’s book that attempts to convey the entire narrative of the Bible. Told as a story about the Kingdom of the Great King (God) and the coming of the True King (Jesus), the book is, in a sense, a story-answer to the question: “Why do we pray ‘Your Kingdom come’?”
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If you've ever read my picture book 'The Other Brother' you'll know I have a soft spot for families who open their homes to flexible arrangements and have malleable definitions of what makes family. I'm a firm believer in foster care and open adoption. Yes, I'm one of those people who believes Christians can make a tangible difference offer foster care to kids in need. I've seen the difference it makes to kids, I've experienced the blessing of being involved, but I'm in no way blind to the hardship and heartache that come with the foster care journey. And I guess that's why, when I saw this book - 'A carer's devotional journal: for carers of kids from tough places', I wanted a closer look. It’s always exciting to see Australian Christian publishers invest in children’s books. God is: Holy is the first book in Tulip Publishing’s, Little Theologian Books (Yay!). It is written and illustrated by Jessica Scott and is a theologically dense picture book with potential beyond the ‘children’s book’ shelves.
With limited pages for even further limited text, some Christian board books leave much to be desired. They can feel sickly sweet, terribly shallow or just tokenistic. But the Baby Believers board books, put out by Harvest Kids, is refreshingly different.
I was first introduced to the series when Karle Grice, from the Wandering Bookseller, thrust a copy of Psalms of Praise: A Movement Primer into my hands. He said, ‘You’ll like this one', and he was right! (And, No, it's not one of mine.) Crystal Bowman is a lovely US Christian children's book authors I would love to one day meet. She is a prolific writer for kids and writes for most (if not all) of the large US Christian publishing houses. She writes everything from devotionals to magazine articles, and has a particular interest in picture books.
I first 'bumped into' Crystal when we were both contributing to the Christian Children's Authors blog (a great resource for those involved in discipling children). I then heard her teach on writing for kids and when I reached out with a question, she generously replied. All that to say, when I saw she had a new book coming out this year - co-written with Michelle S Lazurek and illustrated by Sandra Eide - I pre-ordered it as soon as I could! |
The Penny DropsIn high school I used to write what I'd call 'thinks' - little bits of writing about whatever topic or issue I was mulling over at the time. I still write these little pieces. Categories
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